


Fall With Your Eyes Open

by Dogsocks



Series: Words Not Spoken [1]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Angst, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, POV Alternating, Slow Burn, mentions of abuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-20
Updated: 2016-06-25
Packaged: 2018-07-16 03:12:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 28,358
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7249723
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dogsocks/pseuds/Dogsocks
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>People don't talk to Kyoutani if they don't have to.<br/>And people certainly don't ever ask Kyoutani for help.<br/>Which is why it's so weird when someone does, and so funny because of all the people in the world to ask him for help it's Yahaba.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Give and Take

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is just something I wrote for fun because it's Kyouhaba week. Today's prompt was music or plants and though it isn't the focus, I tried to work in a little bit of both, so I hope you enjoy!

"I need your help." Yahaba says reluctantly, making an expression Kyoutani can't quite place as he avoids his eyes. Kyoutani huffs a little laugh as he finishes buttoning his shirt. It's reflexive and, after the fact, he notes that it might have been rude, but since when does he care about being rude to Yahaba?

It's just funny. People don't talk to Kyoutani if they don't have to. They either keep their distance or keep it brief and scurry away as quickly as possible. He doesn't mind that. He doesn't like talking to people anyways, and he could care less what crazy rumor causes them to keep their distance as long as it means people leave him alone. He likes that nobody bothers him.

And people certainly don't ever ask Kyoutani for _help_. He doesn't mind that either. He's not really sure how much help he would be to anyone anyways. He can't give advice on most of the things that normal people ask for advice on. Not to mention that if they need help doing something, that most likely means having to spend even more time with Kyoutani, which is hard to do if they're too scared to even ask in the first place. So people don't ask.

Which is why it's so weird when someone does, and so funny because of all the people in the world to ask him for help, it's Yahaba. Not only does he seem to hate Kyoutani, but the only times they talk for longer than a few seconds, it usually ends in some sort of argument. So if he's asking Kyoutani for help, he's completely desperate.

Kyoutani could just say no, he could just watch Yahaba's expression change as his last resort for whatever problem he's having is yanked away. He also just kind of wants Yahaba to leave. But he's curious.

"Oh yeah?" He says turning to his locker to close it, "And what could, Mr. Perfect possibly need my help for?" He asks in an angry tone. He can't see Yahaba's face but he knows what it looks like. That delightfully annoyed expression when he happens to be losing an argument and he knows he is. Kyoutani almost smiles.

Yahaba scoffs. "Just forget it. I knew I shouldn't have asked you. Like you could help me anyways, this was probably a joke," he mutters.

"What do you even want?" Kyoutani asks whipping around to face him, narrowing his eyes in annoyance as he slings his bag over his shoulder and glares at Yahaba. He knew he wasn't much good at helping people, but Yahaba saying it still pisses him off. Fucking Yahaba.

Yahaba has on a look that might be embarassment, and he even looks startled for a moment at the sudden movement of Kyoutani turning. Kyoutani sees him lean away just a little bit, and he furrows his brow at him. Yahaba quickly regains his nonchalont posture and his cold calm as he finally answers. "Science," he says looking away again, "I need help with science, and everyone else said you were really good at it, apparently."

It takes Kyoutani a bit by surprise. Despite what most people think, he's actually really school smart. Sure, he hates being called on in class, when he actually decides to go to class, but that has nothing to do with knowing the right answers. But no one has ever asked him for help with school work, regardless.

"It's my best subject," Kyoutani grunts pushing past Yahaba towards the door, a little irritated that Yahaba had been so quick to assume it was some kind of joke. People are always quick to assume. 

Yahaba either doesn't sense his annoyance or doesn't care as he follows close behind.

"So will you help me study?" he asks jogging a bit before he catches up.

"I thought I 'couldn't help you anyways'," Kyoutani hisses.

"Seriously?" Yahaba sighs. "Look, I'm sorry I was rude before. I can't fail sience, could you please just help me? At least help me pass the test on Friday." Though there's still a hint of his relentless pride, the request sounds incrdibly sincere and even a little desperate. 

Kyoutani's eyebrows knit together in confusion as he glares at Yahaba.

"What?" he asks defensively, leaning away as if he can physically escape Kyoutani's confused and mildly angry stare.

"You appologized." Kyoutani says seeming disgusted. "To me."

"Yeah, and I said please." Yahaba says dryly as he turns to face forward again. "What about it?" he spits coldly, but there isn't actually much venom behind the words. He almost seems embarassed, might even be blushing as he ducks his head.

Kyoutani scrunches his nose before turning forward. "Gross."

Yahaba sighs again. "So will you help me or not?" he asks impatiently.

"Fine." Kyoutani grunts reluctanntly. It's not like Yahaba would've taken no for an answer anyways. Besides, it's only until Friday.

***

Yahaba is relieved that Kyoutani said yes to helping him study, especially when he recieves last week's science test the next day in class, because boy does he need it. He groans and shoves the test far into the bottom of his bag as he gets up to leave for lunch.

He usually eats lunch outside with a few of his teamates, but as he's heading out he catches a glimpse of some familiar blonde hair. He looks over, and sure enough, there's Kyoutani sitting on the grass in the corner under the shade of a tree. He's glaring at a book with his lunch in his lap and headphones on his head. There's no one around him, but that probably has something to do with how angry he looks with his eyes narrowed and his eyebrows knit together in concentration. But Yahaba can tell he's not actually annoyed, might even be happy.

Yahaba doesn't notice he's approaching Kyoutani until he's only a few feet away. He looks around and sees a few people looking at him, shocked that he has the audacity to even go near Kyoutani. 

Kyoutani looks up, and now the expression on his face really is annoyed. Yahaba knows it's far too late to just walk away like nothing happened, so he tries to be _nice_. That's what Oikawa keeps telling him to do, but it's hard with Kyoutani.

"What are you listening to?" he asks, actually a little curious once he's asked.

"Right now, your annoying voice," he says glaring up at him. 

"You must have great taste in music then," Yahaba coos. "How can you even listen to music while you read anyways?" he asks.

"Why do you care?"

"I don't know I was just wondering, god, don't take it so personally." 

"None of your damn business." He narrows his eyes then looks back at his book. It's clear to Yahaba that he isn't actually reading, but he assumes that's his cue to finally leave. He's about to when Kyoutani mumbles something.

"What?"

"I said, what the fuck do you even want?" Kyoutani says louder this time.

Yahaba still isn't quite sure why he walked over. "I don't know I've just never seen you out here before." It's not untrue, so he goes with it. "I thought you probably ate your lunch in some dark corner where real human people won't try to interact with you."

Kyoutani looks up. "I try to, but somebody always manages to ruin it. I used to eat on the roof, behind the school, and by the dumpster, but someone stupid always tries to fucking bother me. So I moved here, but I guess this is ruined now, too," he says slamming his book shut.

"Relax, I have better things to do than bug you during lunch every day." He's about to walk away, but he decides to say what's in his head while he still has a chance. "Maybe people just want to talk to you. Maybe you could make some friends, Kyoutani," Yahaba continues but Kyoutani just laughs a little.

"They don't ask me my favorite color, they ask how many people I've actually killed, or did I really steal those street signs? Or was it me that set that thing on fire? People don't want to be friends with me, Yahaba, and that's fine with me." He says it like it's fact, but Yahaba can't help but think he might have looked a little sad when he said it.

"You could always just sit with us," Yahaba says. 

"Who the fuck is us and why the hell would I wanna sit with you?" Kyoutani spits.

" _Us_ is me, Watari, Kindaichi, and Kunimi. And most normal people dont sit by themselves in a dark corner at lunch, ya know. Most people sit with their friends. Maybe if you actually sat with people at lunch random assholes wouldn't spend their time trying to piss you off for kicks," Yahaba says with annoyance, wondering why he's even still trying right now. "I just figured I'd offer if you ever want to." 

Kyoutani narrows his eyes but it doesn't look angry, it almost looks like he's confused. "What I want, is to finish my book and not have to listen to your dumb voice in my ear anymore." This is what Yahaba gets for trying to be nice.

"Fine," he says turning to leave, "But when you're done being a grumpy hermit, we sit under that huge maple near the math wing." He knows Kyoutani probably won't come, but maybe that confusion was actually consideration.

***

Kyoutani thinks about Yahaba all day, which makes him angry because he'd rather not have that annoying asshole in his head during the few times a day he's not forced to be with him. But he can't stop thinking about lunch.

Why the hell did Yahaba come up to him? They almost never talk outside of practice and when they do it's usually because Yahaba was ordered to be a messanger for someone who's too lazy or too scared to talk to Kyoutani themselves. The weirdest part was the fact that Yahaba had invited Kyoutani to sit with him, and before that he said that's what friends did. Does Yahaba think him and Kyoutani are friends? Are they? 

Truthfully, he doesn't know, which makes him even more frustrated. He doesn't exactly know what qualifies someone as friends or not friends. Kyoutani doesn't even think he has any friends. Not that he knows of at least. And that's fine. Since when has he needed friends?

 

He tries to shove the thoughts from his head, but it's hard when he's forced to see Yahaba at practice. It's even harder when they get partnered up to practice setting and spiking.

He tosses the ball to Yahaba, who sets it for Kyoutani to spike. The first few times aren't as good as he usually does, to say the least. For some reason everything seems off and he can't place the feeling in his gut. Whatever it is, it sucks.

"What's up with you?" Yahaba finally asks. "You doing terrible right now."

"Well maybe if your tosses didn't suck so much I could hit them right," Kyoutani spits back. He was already frustrated with Yahaba for being so damn confusing, and now all he's doing is confusing Kyoutani even more. This is why Kyoutani doesn't have friends. People are confusing.

"My tosses are fine." Yahaba protests.

"If your tosses were fine I would be able to hit them better. Now shut up and toss the ball again." Kyoutani says throwing the ball at Yahaba before he has time to protest.

He sets the ball and this time Kyoutani hits the ball with everything he has, smashing it down onto the other side of the court. The sting of the ball against his hand lingers as he picks up another one.

"Nice spike." 

Kyoutani simply hums in agreement. "Let's do it again."

***

Practice finally ends, and it actually went pretty well once they found their rhythm. Yahaba's satasfied by the time he enters the locker room.

He stops when he sees Kyoutani. He's turned around pulling his shirt over his head and Yahaba can't help but notice the bruises along the muscles of his back. He hasn't noticed anything like that on Kyoutani before, but come to think of it, Kyoutani usually shows up a little late and leaves a little late. He's only seen him in the locker room a few times. 

The marks don't look like they're from volley ball, but Yahaba convinces himself momentarily that they must be. 

He realizes that he's staring and he quickly turns away, thankful that Kyoutani is turned around.

"So, are we studying today?" Yahaba asks as they're beginning the walk down the street.

"I guess so," Kyoutani grunts, not bothering to look at Yahaba. "But if we do we're not going to my house." Something about the way he says it seems odd, but Yahaba chooses to ignore it.

He doesn't want to press Kyoutani about his personal life. It's his business and it's not like he'd tell Yahaba anything if he asked, anyways.

"Okay," Yahaba says finally, "Then I guess we can go to my house." 

And so they do, but the rest of the walk is silent.

***

Yahaba's house is nice, and the best word to describe it would be cozy. It's not huge, but it feels warm and friendly, like how Kyoutani assumes a perfect home should feel. There's soft music drifting in from somewhere to the right as they take off their shoes.

As safe as he feels in Yahaba's house, he feels extremely out of place for some reason. It's an overwhelming feeling that he doesn't quite know what to do with. Despite how different he knows he is, he's never actually felt like this before and it makes him uneasy. He just wants to shrink away, afraid to touch anything and ruin this perfect place. 

Yahaba snaps him out of his trance as he walks toward the sound of the music. He stops when Kyoutani doesn't follow and turns around.

"Are you coming?" He asks. He stares at Kyoutani with his eyebrows coming slightly together. "Are you okay?" Kyoutani isn't sure how he looked just then, but he must have been making some kind of face.

He tries to brush it off as he mumbles, "Yeah," and follows Yahaba into the next room.

The source of the music is the kitchen, where a woman, presumably Yahaba's mother, is cooking something that smells amazing. She turns around and greets Yahaba, who greets her back, before she notices Kyoutani hunched awkwardly off to the side.

"And who might this be, Shigeru?" she asks sweetly. She has Yahaba's smile. It's immediately obvious, and if this isn't him mom, they're at least related in some way.

"This is Kyoutani Kentarou, he's helping me study, which is where we're going right now." He says quickly. He reaches to pull Kyoutani out of the kitchen and Kyoutani flinches back far too drastically. He cringes at himself, but luckily Yahaba's mom didn't seem to notice. From the look on his face, Yahaba definately did. As Kyoutani follows him in an effort to let the moment pass, Yahaba brushes it off and leads him up the stairs.

Yahaba's room is extremely neat, as Kyoutani expected. Everything seems to have a particular place. Yahaba sits on the floor next to his bed and starts to pull papers out of his bag. Kyoutani takes this as his cue to do the same and awkwardly shuffles over to sit down across from Yahaba.

Looking over Yahaba's shoulder he sees a small plant on the window that clearly isn't doing so well. It was stupid of him, because Yahaba sees him. 

"What's with that face?" he says turning around to try and figure out what Kyoutani is looking at. He sounds so concerned that something in his room may not be completely perfect and Kyoutani almost smiles. Almost.

"It's just that plant," Kyoutani says as Yahaba turns back around. "It's dying." 

"Oh yeah," Yahaba says dismissively, maybe even a little relieved. "I don't know why. I water it every day. My sister bought it for me. She said my room looked too boring."

"You should put it on your desk instead." Kyoutani says. He tries to look interested in his paper but he isn't actually reading it. He can practically feel Yahaba staring at him. He really should just keep his mouth shut.

"Why?"

"It's a bromeliad." There he goes again, talking.

"A what?"

"It's a type of plant. They don't like direct sunlight." Kyoutani says and he can feel his cheeks getting hot as Yahaba laughs a little. He shouldn't have mentioned the damn plant.

"Why do you even know that?" Yahaba asks and Kyoutani can tell he's still watching him fumble with his papers.

"I have a lot of plants. What, is that so fucking hard to believe?" Kyoutani fires back defensively. He can feel the embarassment reaching his ears and he wants to die. He just wants to sink into the floor and never come out.

"I never said it was, calm down," Yahaba says rising to his feet. Kyoutani glances up to see Yahaba take the small pot and move it to his desk. He adjusts it a few times until he's satisfied. 

"There," he says sitting down again. "We should really study now though, I almost failed my last test." Now it's Yahaba's turn to be embarassed. His cheeks are only a little pink, but Kyoutani can tell he regrets saying it.

"Do you want music?" He says quickly trying to change the subject. "I usually listen to music when I study, but we don't have to if you don't want to."

It's a stupid question but Kyoutani answers anyways. "That's fine," he mumbles.

"What do you want to listen to?" Yahaba says, pulling out his phone. "If I don't have it I can just look it up." He looks expectantly at Kyoutani who looks away to glare at the wall.

"I don't fucking care. Play anything but that terrible pop shit." 

"Well, what do you usually listen to?" Yahaba persists and Kyoutani can't help but think for a second that maybe he just wants to know, considering he could have played something by now. He feels stupid for thinking it.

"It depends." He says quietly, back to looking through his papers. "When I work out, I listen to metal. When I'm at home, I listen to shit that calms me down. When I'm reading I listen to classical because it blocks out everyone's damn voices but it doesn't have words." He immediately regrets sharing so much. He doesn't know why he did. But Yahaba doesn't even make a comment, which is surprising. He just plays classical music on a low volume as they begin to finally study.

***

They manage to get quite a bit of work done. Kyoutani helps Yahaba with his science, and Yahaba finds that he's able to help Kyoutani with his English.

The whole time Yahaba isn't sitting all that close to Kyoutani, but every time he leans over to get a better look at his paper or point something out, he sees Kyoutani flinch away a little bit. For a while he leaves it alone, but eventually he can't ignore it anymore.

"Are you okay?" Yahaba asks finally.

"What?" Kyoutani asks looking genuinely confused. "Yeah, what do you mean?"

"Well you keep flinching every time I move towards you." That didn't come out right. "To point at something or read your paper." He adds quickly.

"I just don't like people fucking touching me, okay?" he says defensively, narrowing his eyes like he's trying to burn Yahaba with his stare alone.

"Yeah I noticed," Yahaba says quietly, "Anyway, I'm not even touching you, and I don't plan to so you can stop freaking out." Kyoutani doesn't relax that much, but his expression softens and he stops glaring like he wants to kill Yahaba in his sleep. "Besides, I can't get too close, I might catch your crazy." He adds with a smirk.

Kyoutani fires some profanity back, but there's no real venom behind it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well there it is. I plan to write a chapter for every day of Kyouhaba week so look for more tomorrow. Thanks for reading!


	2. Filling The Hole

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kyoutani isn't really sure what it's like to be friends with someone. Maybe this is it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So here's day two of Kyouhaba week. Today's prompt that I used was training camp but by the time I put in everything I was planning to, it got kind of long. So I stopped on the bus ride to training camp. Hope you enjoy!

Yahaba is so relieved when he gets back his science test on Friday to find he passed, even managed to do well. Kyoutani and Yahaba had been studying after practice all week. They would finish practice, walk to Yahaba's house to study until dinner, eat together, and then Kyoutani would walk home. They would argue now and then, but that was pretty normal. It was a good rythm, and Yahaba's glad it's finally paying off.

He's in a good mood when he leaves for lunch. As he walks outside, he notices Kyoutani isn't in his usual spot in the corner of the courtyard. Maybe he finally decided to move to a less populated area. It's a little disappointing, for some reason, but he continues towards his friends.

***

Yahaba ruined everything. Ever since he had talked to Kyoutani at lunch a week ago, it hasn't been the same. He can't _enjoy_  it anymore. He doesn't know what changed, but now he feels weird sitting by himself, and for the first time he's noticing people watching him.

It's like someone pointed out this hole in him that he'd never noticed, and now that he has, he feels like he needs to fill it. Sure, he functioned fine with the hole before, but now he knows it's there, which is making him a little paranoid.

But if he didn't care then, why the hell should he care now? He just has this gross feeling that he thinks for a second might be loneliness. But is this loneliness? Kyoutani has never felt lonely before. Not that he knows of. Sure, he doesn't really have friends, but that usually feels normal. This is the first time it hasn't, which really pisses him off.

Finally fed up with all the idiots staring at him like he's a God damn art exhibit, he picks up his book and his lunch and storms off to fill the damn hole.

***

Yahaba is eating his lunch and talking to Watari when he almost chokes on his rice. Over Kindaichi's shoulder, there's a familiar pair of angry eyes storming towards him. Yahaba knows he hasn't done anything wrong, but as Kyoutani approaches, he can't help but be a little worried.

"Kyoutani," Watari says sweetly as he scooches over to make space for him in their small circle. "Good to see you."

He only grunts in reply as he sits down. His anger fades a bit to what seems to be discomfort of some kind, hunching awkwardly like he's trying to be smaller than he is. He tries to hide his lunch in his lap, but from what Yahaba can see, it's poorly made. Yahaba assumes it's because Kyoutani made it himself, but he doesn't think about it for too long.

Kyoutani looks around at the other students before he begins eating in silence. Curious, Yahaba looks up too, and sure enough, people are staring and whispering. It's probably because no one outside of volleyball has ever seen Kyoutani willingly interact with other people.

As Watari tries too keep up polite conversation, Yahaba realizes he's been staring too. He never expected Kyoutani to actually come sit with them. He meant it when he offered, but he didn't think Kyoutani would ever really consider it.

It's nice though. Yahaba only sees Kyoutani when he's working hard at practice or focusing on studying. It's nice to see him relaxed, or as relaxed as Kyoutani can be around other people. He smiles and joins back into the conversation.

***

Afternoon practice goes well, and to Kyoutani’s surprise and relief, Yahaba doesn’t say anything about lunch, doesn’t tease him about it. He doesn’t make any rude comments besides the usual bickering, and for that, Kyoutani is grateful.

He actually enjoyed eating with the team more than he thought he would. Sure, in the beginning there were a lot of people staring, more than when he was by himself, but he found himself not minding as much.

 

After practice, Oikawa gathers them all up into a weird cluster to make some kind of announcement. Kyoutani tries to stay out of the crowd as much as possible, but he can’t hear as well from this far back, so he reluctantly dives into the sea of bumping bodies and brushing shoulders.

“Don’t make that face, Kyouken-chan!” Oikawa squawks suddenly. “It’s not bad news.” Apparently he was making a face again. He has to stop doing that.

“Anyways,” Oikawa continues, “This is just a reminder that the training camp is next week, and I expect every single one of you to be there!”

As Oikawa begins explaining details and listing times, Kyoutani can’t help but feel like some of the third years keep watching him. He choses to ignore it, though he still crosses his arms and hunches in on himself uncomfortably.

Suddenly, Kyoutani realizes he's actually pretty excited for the training camp. Which is weird. He always looked forward to the training camps because it was an excuse to focus all his attention on volleyball, even more so than usual. It was also an excuse to get out of the house and eat food better than Kyoutani can cook himself.

But this year is different somehow. He's looking forward to more than free food and long hours of practice. He notices he's looking forward to seeing a few of the people. And that is _really_  weird. That's usually the part of the training week that Kyoutani dreads the most.

Lately he found himself actually wanting to be around people, sometimes. It's the same feeling he got at lunch, not necessarily wanting to talk to anyone or be talked to, but to just be around people. Kyoutani even sometimes found himself lingering a little closer to the team during breaks at practice instead of standing by himself. He didn’t care about listening to their conversations, or partaking in them. He just felt the need to stand a little closer. He still got annoyed when people tried to bother him, so he wasn’t quite sure why he felt the need to make it easier for people to do just that.

Either way, his train of thought is thankfully cut off when the crowd around him begins to disperse. Practice is ending and everyone is cleaning up. He starts doing his part, happy to have a distraction again.

***

Yahaba is still in a good mood when he walks into the locker room. The training camp has him excited. It's always fun, and somehow more relaxed than practice while also being way more intense. Plus, if Oikawa is serious about wanting Yahaba to be captain when he’s gone, it will be a good opportunity to try to get to know some of the other team members better.

His good mood falls a bit when he sees Kyoutani in the locker room getting changed. There's a large bruise on his upper arm that _definately_  isn’t from volleyball. Yahaba had noticed Iwaizumi and Oikawa watching Kyoutani a little closer, and once Yahaba had seen the mark, he was sure it was what the two were whispering to each other about it.

It makes Yahaba sad. Then again, he might just be jumping to conclusions.

Before he has a chance to think about it further, Kyoutani is turning around and Yahaba realizes he’s been staring. He tries to pretend that he wasn’t just standing around as he walks to his locker, but he can feel Kyoutani’s confused glare falling on him from across the room.

As he waits at the door, Yahaba suddenly realizes it isn’t necessary. Kyoutani had only promised to help him until the test. They probably aren’t even going to study today, and even though they walk the same way for a while, Yahaba had never walked with Kyoutani before. But they weren’t really friends before.

Wait. Were they? Are they even friends now? They must be. Kyoutani even sat with them at lunch today. On purpose. But does that mean he should wait? Will Kyoutani be weirded out?

“What is that dumb face for?” Kyoutani suddenly asks from behind him, and Yahaba is so startled he almost falls over.

“Nothing,” Yahaba says quickly, “Are you ready to go?”

Kyoutani grunts out a reply but someone calls out behind them. “Hold on!” They turn to see Iwaizumi jogging towards them with Oikawa waiting in the middle of the gym. Oikawa waves with a bright smile, hand on his hip, as Iwaizumi approaches. Yahaba didn’t even think the two third years were still here. They're usually gone by now.

“Before you go,” Iaizumi begins, “Can we talk to Kyoutani? Privately?” Yahaba sees Kyoutani visibly tense up, though he nods in reluctant agreement. “It’ll be quick,” Iwaizumi reassures with a small smile that isn’t actually that reassuring. You can always tell when something is bothering Iwaizumi.

***

Kyoutani waves casually goodbye as he reassures the two third years that he's fine and promises not to get in any more fights. They let him leave but he's pretty sure they don’t believe him. It's fine though. For now at least.

He knows it's pretty much too late at this point, but either way, he stops to put on his sweatshirt before walking to the door where he still sees Yahaba. He doesn’t need anyone else asking about the bruise, and he doesn’t need to lie to anyone else. He doesn’t like lying.

“What was that all about?” Yahaba asks, standing up and brushing off his pants as they begin walking. He asks in a way that makes Kyoutani relatively sure he hadn’t been eavesdropping.

“None of your fucking business,” Kyoutani grunts shoving his hands in his pockets and looking at the ground, the trees, his feet, anywhere but Yahaba. “You didn’t have to wait, you know.” He adds, before Yahaba has a chance to make a snide remark.

Luckily, it makes Yahaba defensive enough to leave the subject be in favor of this new one. “I’m just a wonderful person, Kyoutani.” Yahaba says with false sweetness.

“Gross.”

“You’re gross,” Yahaba shoots back. “Anyways, it’s not like I have anything better to be doing right now. Besides homework, but I’d like to put that off as long as I can.”

Kyoutani can think of a lot of better things for Yahaba to be doing than walking home late with him. But he doesn’t question it. He just keeps walking, and it’s silent for a while until Yahaba speaks up again.

“So are we studying today or no?”

Kyoutani hadn’t even thought about that until now. Honestly, he was just planning on going to Yahaba’s again in the back of his mind, but now he remembers that he had only promised to get him through the test. He's also starting to feel bad about Yahaba’s mom having to cook for him every night.

But something in him really wants to say yes, and he doesn’t know why. He enjoyed studying with Yahaba, but did Yahaba even enjoy having Kyoutani over? It's probably a little annoying at this point. Maybe Yahaba just needs help with science and he doesn’t even want to hang around with Kyoutani. But that doesn’t really make sense either. Yahaba invited Kyoutani to sit with them, and he still tries to talk to Kyoutani at practice.

“Sure,” Kyoutani says, but part of him is still guilty. So before he can change his mind, he keeps talking. “We can go to my house this time. If you want to. We don’t have to. But we can today, and I feel bad for your mom having to cook for me.” Yahaba is quiet for half a second and Kyoutani instantly regrets opening his god damn mouth.

“Sure,” Yahaba says finally, maybe noticing Kyoutani’s discomfort. “Just let me text my mom that I won’t be home for dinner,” he says, taking out his phone and beginning to type.

Kyoutani is relieved. A little nervous of what Yahaba will think of his house compared to the dollhouse that Yahaba lives in, but relieved all the same. As they continue on in a new direction towards Kyoutani’s house, Kyoutani almost smiles. Maybe he does, but he also might have looked away right then.

***

Kyoutani is a little more fidgety than usual on the rest of he walk, and Yahaba notes that this scowl may be a nervous one. It’s almost cute. Yahaba’s eyes widen at himself and he quickly glances at Kyoutani, as if maybe he heard his thoughts. He shoves them away and looks forward, thankful Kyoutani didn’t notice, or that he at least pretends not to.

When they get to Kyoutani’s house, he tells Yahaba to stay out front for a second while he runs inside. He doesn’t know why, but whatever his reasons, Yahaba chooses not to question them. He makes a joke, if only to ease his own nerves.

Nerves. Why is he nervous? He suposses he’s never been to Kyoutani’s house before, so he chooses to blame it on that.

He looks at the outside of the house while he waits. It’s nothing huge or fancy, but it’s also nothing to be ashamed of. There's a well kept garden in the front, and Yahaba can’t help but smile, knowing who must keep up said garden.

Kyoutani isn’t gone long, and he stops short when he comes back out.

“What?” he asks defensively, maybe a little worried.

“Nothing,” Yahaba reassures as he heads towards the door, “I was just looking at your garden. It’s nice.”

“Thanks,” Kyoutani grunts out, but Yahaba thinks he might see the tips of his ears grow pink as he follows him inside.

Kyoutani’s house is nice, and he feels a little bad when he thinks it’s nicer than he imagined it would be. He looks around as they take off their shoes, and while not everything is tidy like his own mom likes their house, it’s neat and cozy. There’s no music like he’s used to, but there is the increasing sound of jingling metal.

Suddenly he’s assaulted with wagging tails and tongues as two dogs surround his legs excitedly. One of them very much resembles a wolf and the other is a German Shepard, on the smaller side for the breed. Both continue to inspect Yahaba as he laughs and awkwardly pats the dogs. He’s not really sure what to do with dogs, and he feels more than a little out of place.

Kyoutani whistles and shouts for the dogs to get down. Surprisingly, what was once excited commotion transitions to two dogs sitting obediently as they stare up at Kyoutani and Yahaba.

“I’m so sorry,” Kyoutani says as he scratches the neck of the wolf like one while the other one looks around excitedly from its position on the floor. “I completely forgot to ask if you were okay with dogs. I can put them in their crates if you want,” He continues quickly, looking almost embarrassed.

“No. It’s totally fine,” Yahaba reassures casually, “I’m just not really a dog person, but they’re fine.” Yahaba has never been a dog person. He's never had a dog, and while petting other people’s dogs is nice, he doesn’t really know how to deal with dogs. He usually just treats them like big, excited cats. “They’re pretty well trained though. I can’t say I’m not impressed.”

“Yeah. They’re good, but they just get excited around new people. It’s usually just my dad and me. He’s not home right now, though,” Kyoutani says and there’s a trace of something in his expression that Yahaba can’t place. “Anyways,” Kyoutani says, changing the subject, “This is Shiba,” he says pointing to the larger dog, “And this is Lady,” he says gesturing to the German Shepard, who’s now on her back, rolling around.

“Shiba’s pretty old,” he continues eventually, “But she’s my baby. Lady is a little more energetic.”

Kyoutani sits on the floor and rubs the dog’s belly. It’s adorable to see Kyoutani show so much unconditional affection for something. He looks so happy. And then something weird happens. Kyoutani smiles. A real, sweet smile as Shiba licks his ear. Yahaba realizes it’s the first time he’s ever seen Kyoutani smile, and all he can think is that it's great, the kind of smile no one would ever guess could belong to Kyoutani of all people. Any weird, fidgety nervousness he saw in Kyoutani before is gone.

“Do they know any tricks?” Yahaba asks happy to break the silence, but sad to ruin the moment. “Have you taught them how to play volleyball with you yet?” He jokes with a smirk.

“Come here,” Kyoutani says abruptly, getting up so fast it startles Yahaba. He starts walking back to the front door with some new kind of focus, almost excitement.

“What?”

“What do you mean ‘what’? Follow me, dipshit. I want to show you something.” Yahaba wants to make a remark, but his curiosity gets the best of him and he follows him out the door.

He’s surprised when he gets outside and Kyoutani isn’t there. He looks around, confused, until Kyoutani reappears from around the side of the house with a worn out volleyball. He walks to the door, lets out Shiba, and then approaches Yahaba on the sidewalk, Shiba following obediently behind. He hands the ball to Yahaba.

“What do you want me to do with this?” Yahaba asks, confused.

“God, I figured a setter would know what to do with a volleyball.” Kyoutani says backing up. “Toss it.”

“To you?”

“No, idiot. To her,” he says pointing at the dog, who Yahaba is just noticing has moved to stand a few yards away from him. She looks at him patiently, but it isn’t really him she’s watching. It’s the ball.

“Seriously? You want me to throw a ball at your dog? Seems like animal abuse.” Yahaba says with a smirk.

“Just fucking throw it already,” Kyoutani persists impatiently, crossing his arms.

So, Yahaba gently tosses the ball to the dog, who, to his surprise, bops it with her nose perfectly back to Yahaba’s hands. He isn’t expecting it, and Kyoutani laughs a little as he fumbles to catch it.

“I think you’re going to be replaced,” Kyoutani chuckles, “She’s better than you.”

“Shut up.”

 

After wasting quite a bit of the evening playing with the dogs, they finally head iside to get some studying done.

Kyoutani’s room is messier than Yahaba’s, but neater than he was expecting. There’s a bookshelf that’s practically overflowing, plus a few more books across the floor. Yahaba knows Kyoutani reads a lot, but has he really read all of these? It actually makes sense for someone who spends so much time alone.

Kyoutani wasn’t kidding when he said he had a lot of plants. Yahaba looks to see several small houseplants and succulents lined along the windowsill. His desk has a few papers and things across it, along with quite a few more plants. Yahaba recognizes a bromeliad and he can’t help but smile. Above his desk, there are a few pictures of his dogs and a girl who looks a lot like Kyoutani that he identifies as his older sister.

“She’s in college,” he explains. He talks about her with a certain fondness that you can only have for a sibling. Yahaba finds it interesting how many things he actually cares about a lot, when on the outside he’s constantly trying to act like he doesn’t care about anything.

“I didn’t know you had a sister,” Yahaba says as they sit down.

“You never asked,” Kyoutani says with a shrug. Kyoutani has never lied to Yahaba, as far as he knows, or anyone else. It makes him wonder how much he would be willing to share if anyone ever bothered to ask him.

 

Kyoutani and Yahaba study for a while, and it’s nice. It feels familiar now, and it’s a good way to spend an evening. Both their nerves die down, and as it gets later, Kyoutani asks if Yahaba is hungry yet.

“We don’t have much good food,” he continues, seeming a little embarrassed, “But you can eat anything you find in the kitchen.”

“That’s fine,” Yahaba says getting up, “Maybe I can make us both something.”

“You cook?” Kyoutani asks, standing now too.

“Yeah, sometimes,” he continues as they walk down the stairs.

“Oh,” Kyoutani says, thinking for a minute before continuing. “Well you can try if you want, but we don’t have much stuff for cooking. Mostly TV dinners and rice.”

“I can work with that." Yahaba says with a smirk.

***

Kyoutani watches as Yahaba searches the kitchen for some idea of what to make. He feels bad that he doesn’t have many fresh ingredients to offer, but eventually they scrape together enough stuff for make-shift curry. Kyoutani works on washing and cutting vegetables while Yahaba seasons the still-slightly-frozen meat.

When he glances over at Yahaba, it’s amazing how comfortable he is now that he’s in the kitchen. Yahaba is so focused on making something good out of what he has, though they don’t have all the spices he wanted. You can see it in the light furrow of his brow as he works.

He looks back at what he's doing. Maybe he smiled, but Yahaba didn’t see it.

He gives Yahaba the vegetables and goes to throw out the peels when he sees the trash with a fresh layer of bottles on top. He tenses up. He somehow managed to clean them up before they came inside without Yahaba asking about it, but he knows Yahaba must have seen them from where he’s standing by now. He didn’t say anything then or now, so Kyoutani shoves the thought from his head and covers them with vegetable peels.

 

Yahaba cooks just as well as his mother. Even without everything they need, it still tastes far better than anything Kyoutani has ever tried to make himself. It’s been a long time since he’s tried to cook anything this elaborate, and even longer since he’s had a home cooked meal in his own house. It’s nice.

“This is really good,” Kyoutani grunts before putting another bite in his mouth.

“Yeah, it’s better than I expected,” Yahaba says with a smile.

“Thank you.”

“For what?” Yahaba asks sounding genuinely confused. Why can’t Yahaba just let him say thank you without explaining himself? This is what he gets for trying to be nice.

“For making dinner, asshole.” Kyoutani spits back. He can feel his cheeks get hot.

“First you thank me and now I’m an asshole?” Yahaba says with a smirk. “Besides, you helped too.”

“Just shut up and let me be nice, idiot.”

Yahaba makes a face, but he doesn’t protest.

***

Yahaba could fall asleep standing up. It’s the morning of the training camp and it’s far too early as he waits in line to get on the bus. He’s the second to last person waiting, right before Oikawa, who’s making sure everyone gets on, clipboard in hand. He gives Yahaba a grin and a slap on the back that’s far too much for this early in the morning.

The bus is just big enough for all of them, and as Yahaba searches for a seat, he finds there’s only two left. The first is next to Iwaizumi, but everyone knows that isn’t really an empty seat. He looks for Watari, but a first year is already in the seat with him, Watari by the window.

Yahaba narrows his eyes at Watari as he passes but he only shrugs innocently with a grin. Soon it becomes apparent why a random first year decided to sit with Watari, because the only other open seat is next to a very grumpy looking Kyoutani.

He sighs and sits down. It’s not that he really minds Kyoutani anymore. In fact, he’s probably the only person who isn’t afraid to sit next to him. But Yahaba gets the feeling Kyoutani isn’t a morning person, and he knows from experience that he isn’t fond of long bus rides.

Kyoutani glances at him then goes back to glaring out the window. He has his headphones on and Yahaba can just barely hear the light hum of his music. He has a book in his lap, but he isn’t reading yet when the bus pulls away.

Yahaba eventually puts his own ear buds in. He closes his eyes and leans his head back on the seat as he listens to music and waits for the bus ride to be over.

***

Kyoutani changes his music to a classical playlist and starts reading. Bus rides are good and bad. They’re good because at least half of the people are usually asleep, and almost all of them have headphones in. Those who do decide to talk are usually too tired to be loud or obnoxious. Plus everyone is too afraid to wake up someone like Iwaizumi or Matsukawa.

It’s nice. He can just tune everyone else out and read, or he can watch the world fly by the window and think. He can even sleep, though he usually doesn’t like other people being able to see him sleeping.

But it’s also bad, because everyone is stuck close together for hours on end as they travel. Even the space between him and Yahaba seems too close.

Right as he thinks it, he feels something warm press up against his arm. He tenses up immediately and looks over to see Yahaba asleep, his shoulder just barely sagging into Kyoutani. Kyoutani wants to scoot away or push him off, but there’s nowhere to go, and he doesn’t even want to know what will happen if he wakes Yahaba up. He takes back the thing about sleeping being good.

Eventually, after a few minutes of grimacing at the unknowing and unconscious Yahaba, Kyoutani tries to gently nudge him off. He pokes at him slowly, easing him back into a vertical position. Relieved, he goes back to his book.

A minute later, Yahaba is back on Kyoutani’s shoulder, this time his head sliding down to rest right by his neck. He’s lucky no one is awake to see the face he makes, because he knows he probably looks ridiculous. He tries to nudge him off again, but this time it doesn’t work. Fucking Yahaba. Annoying even in his sleep.

It’s not actually that bad. There’s nothing wrong. Kyoutani just isn’t used to people being close to him, let alone slumped against his side. He looks over and can’t help but think Yahaba looks peaceful like this, mouth open slightly as he takes in the deep rhythmic breaths of sleep.

Yahaba isn’t going anywhere any time soon, so Kyoutani decides to try and _relax_. It’s weird and he hates it almost as much as people being this close to him. He doesn’t like relaxing around other people. It’s reflexive, but it feels weird to let his guard down.

Still, he tries. First he goes back to reading, but after reading the same sentence about fifty times, it's clear that's no longer an option.

Eventually he just closes his eyes, focusing on the music instead of the warmth at his side. He tries to focus on his own breathing instead of Yahaba’s. The tension in his shoulders eventually eases away, his breathing evens out, and before he knows it he’s asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted to go further, but no worries, there will be more tomorrow. Thanks for reading!
> 
> Also quick shout out to my friend's dog Shiba :P


	3. A Step In The Right Direction

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yahaba thinks too much about everything.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so today's prompt that I used was sports swap. It's not so much of a sports swap as it is a sports mix, but I liked the idea so I went with it. Also this is a continuation of yesterday's training camp prompt because it got cut short. Enjoy!

Yahaba woke with a start to someone on the bus shouting that they'd reached their destination, to which a sleepy matsukawa replied with a strong of death threats for waking him. Suddenly he's hit with the realization of a warm presence at his side. Yahaba's eyes snap open to confirm that he must have fallen on Kyoutani during the bus ride, and much to his surprise, Kyoutani is resting on _him_. Kyoutani's head is resting on Yahaba's hair and oh god, he's _asleep_.

Yahaba sits up straight in his seat, noticing and choosing to ignore the heat growing in his cheeks. He quickly gathers his things from the seat as some of the others begin to file groggily off the bus.

Beside him, he can see Kyoutani slowly coming back into consciousness. Kyoutani stretches, but suddenly he jerks to a stop. In his peripheral vision, Yahaba can see Kyoutani's head whip around to look at Yahaba. He quickly looks away and Yahaba pretends not to notice, but he smirks to himself.

Kyoutani doesn't like to sleep on the bus, or anywhere where people can see him for that matter. In fact, Yahaba doesn't think anyone has ever seen him sleeping. Even during previous training camps and trips, Kyoutani is always asleep last and awake first. But he was definitely just asleep. _On Yahaba_. And he's _definitely_  just realising that. Yahaba represses a laugh as he grabs his bag off the floor.

***

Kyoutani bends down to grab his book off the floor of the bus, which must have fallen out of his hands when he fell asleep.

When he fell asleep. Oh god. Why did that have to happen? It isn't really a bad thing. Kyoutani was tired anyways, but not everyone on the bus sleeps. Plus, the bus is already half empty by the time he's fully awake. The odds that nobody saw him asleep are slim to none.

It doesn't really matter. It's not a bad thing for people to see him sleeping, he just doesn't _like_  it. It's pretty hard to look scary in your sleep, and knowing this team, he probably isn't going to live this down for at least the entirety of the training camp.

Kyoutani looks to the side and sees Yahaba picking up his things. He hasn't mention it, and he clearly woke up first, so maybe things will be fine. Maybe Yahaba is the only one who knows. But right as he thinks it, he knows he's wrong.

"He does sleep!" Hanamaki says to Matsukawa as the two third years pass by their seat.

"Amazing," Matsukawa replies as the two smirk down at Kyoutani. He narrows his eyes and glares back. It's still too fucking early for this.

They file off the bus, giggling to themselves about something else already, and from across the bus Kyoutani can hear a voice that's far too loud for Kyoutani's liking.

"Iwa-chan, wake up!" Oikawa coos from where he's currently trying to poke and prod Iwaizumi into consciousness. Kyoutani glares over, wishing his stare alone could make him shut up. "We're here-- ouch! Iwa-chan, you brute!"

Kyoutani smirks and he turns back forward to pick up his bag. Yahaba is already standing beside him and Kyoutani almost laughs when he sees the setter's normally perfect locks flipping and twirling in several different directions.

"Nice bed head," he says with a smirk as he rises to his feet.

"What?" Yahaba asks as he turns to look at Kyoutani. When he sees his reflection in the window over Kyoutani's shoulder, the look on his face is priceless. He rushes to try and fix it, but there are a few resilient pieces.

"I don't think it's working," Kyoutani taunts.

"Shut up!"

"Maybe you'd be better off cutting your hair like Watari."

"Shut up!" Yahaba repeats quickly.

Kyoutani changes his mind. Sleeping can go back on the list of good things.

***

The first day goes better than Yahaba expected. It's hard, and by the end everyone is pretty aware of where they need improvement. But, as always, the training camp has a different vibe to it than normal practice does. Sure, it's harder, but for some reason everyone seems more motivated than usual, more energetic. It's a good environment.

Between drills, matches, and being put in partners or groups, Yahaba ends up working with Kyoutani a lot. It's refreshing to see him so passionate about something. He gets so excited about the sport, or as close to excitement as he thinks Kyoutani ever willingly shows. He looks happy, and it's a good look on him.

***

Kyoutani feels good about practice as he walks into the locker room. He isn't exactly sure what put him in such a good mood. There is the fact that he got to play volleyball all day. That's always nice. He likes getting lost, focusing all his energy into just the sport. But that isn't really it anymore. He still loves focusing on volleyball, still plays just as hard, but he finds that something is different when he also focuses on the people.

People still annoy him, but he finds himself a little more willing to interact occasionally, a little more tolerant. It's an odd feeling that he isn't used to, this weird need to keep that damn hole filled, but Kyoutani is pretty sure it's a good feeling.

He pulls his shirt over his head as he lets the feeling settle. It quickly fades as he catches a glimpse of the healing bruise on his arm, and the new one one his forearm below it. No one had asked about it, and Iwaizumi and Oikawa hadn't talked to him since that day, but he's still paranoid about it now. He almost wore a long sleeve to avoid the feeling of staring eyes but it isn't like anybody hadn't seen it yet.

The fading one is just below his sleeve, covered a little by his shirt. The new one, however, is smaller but plain as day in the middle of his forearm. This pisses Kyoutani off greatly, because he can't even fucking hide it when he's practicing. He's a fucking spiker. Since then he's tried his best to avoid having the marks fall in visible places.

This only makes Kyoutani more aware of the increasing number of marks on his back instead. Suddenly very self-conscious, he pulls the new shirt down over his body quickly. He wants to get out of the room as soon as possible, shrink away, unseen.

When he turns around Yahaba is staring at him. Yahaba clearly isn't expecting Kyoutani to turn so abruptly, because he's just as startled as Kyoutani.

"What the fuck are you staring at me for?" Kyoutani spits defensively.

"I wasn't!" Yahaba shoots back, still flustered. "Don't flatter youself, I just walked in," he adds, trying to recover. It doesn't work, but Kyoutani couldn't care less. He just wants to get the fuck out of here.

"Whatever," he grunts as he storms into the hallway, more than a little aware of how red his ears must be. "Liar," he mutters once he's out of earshot.

***

Everyone is worn out by the time they're laying out their futons. Practice was hard, dinner was loud, and after minimal amounts of casual socializing, everyone is ready to sleep.

Yahaba sets up his futon next to Watari and is surprised when Kyoutani wordlessly sets up his futon next to Yahaba. Really, it shouldn't be surprising. Who else would Kyoutani be okay with being relatively near? And more importantly, who else would be brave enough to sleep next to Kyoutani?

Yahaba finds himself wondering how Kyoutani is when he sleeps. If it reflects anything about how he is when he's awake, he probably kicks people, or snores annoyingly loud. Or maybe he's nothing like he is when he's awake. Maybe that's why he doesn't like anyone being able to see it. Or maybe he talks in his sleep. What would he say when he's unaware? Maybe that's why he doesn't want anyone seeing it.

Why is Yahaba thinking about this? He frantically shoves the thought out of his head and focuses on setting up his bed.

Beside him, Kyoutani puts on his headphones and pulls out his book. Resting the phone on his chest, there's just enough of a soft glow to illuminate his face and the pages he's reading. His brow is furrowed slightly in concentration.

Yahaba closes his eyes. Of course Kyoutani is still going to try and fall asleep last. Sleeping accidentally on on bus ride isn't going to change that. Yahaba knows this. Still, he realizes he's a little disappointed.

 

Yahaba wakes up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom. He sits up groggily and rubs his eyes. He's surrounded by the sounds of snoring, heavy breathing, and Kindaichi's gibberish sleep talking. Other than Yahaba, everyone is asleep at this hour.

Everyone.

Yahaba whips around a little too quickly. As he thought, and maybe hoped, but would never admit, Kyoutani is asleep. It's nothing like Yahaba ever could have imagined. He's in a tight little ball, blankets held all the way up to his nose. There are no limbs sprawled out, no blankets stolen or kicked off. Kyoutani doesn't even look like he's rolled over all night. He looks so peaceful in his little bundle of sheets. For once, the seemingly permanant furrow of his brow has smoothed out into an expression so at ease, Yahaba doubts it's Kyoutani at all.

Not to mention, he doesn't make a single noise. When Yahaba leans a little closer, he can hear the deep, even breathing of sleep, but that's it. No loud snoring like he hears all around him. No soft little sounds. No sleep talking. Just calm breathing.

It feels so weird to see Kyoutani so relaxed, more than Yahaba or anyone else in this room has ever seen him before. Kyoutani looks almost vulnerable. Suddenly Yahaba feels weird, like he's intruding on something, or like he's just been eavesdropping and heard something he probably shouldn't have. It's not like he could help waking up. Anyone in the room could wake up and see Kyoutani asleep. It's not like the fact that Kyoutani actually sleeps is some big secret no one can know about, but it feels like it is.

Desperate to get out of the room, he gets up to finally head to the bathroom. To do so, he has to work around several of Watari's limbs. Watari is a force when he's asleep. He's like an unconscious ball of flailing arms and kicking legs. Somehow he always manages to have his feet by his pillow when he wakes up, his blankets twisted awkwardly around parts of his body.

Watari is an early riser, but during the night, you can't wake him up even if the building is falling apart around him. He's become pretty used to the dangers of sleeping near him. Luckily, Yahaba is a heavy enough sleeper to tolerate the stray limbs and loud snoring.

He tries to throw Watari's limbs off himself as quietly as he can for anyone is the room who isn't a heavy sleeper. For someone so small, Watari's dead weight is heavy. 

He eventually rises to his feet and makes his way to the door. He glances around as he creeps across the room.

Next to Watari is the only other person who can stand to sleep next to him. Kunimi. It honestly freaks Yahaba out the way the first year sleeps. He's flat on his back, arms at his sides, with his blankets pulled perfectly up to his chin. His face is exprssionless, eyes and mouth closed, not a sound coming from him. He actually stops for a second just To make sure he's actually breathing. To top it all of, he's completely unwakable until there's daylight.

Next to him is the mumbling Kindaichi. Yahaba almost laughs when he sees him, completely face down in his pillow with his arms flung above his head. He's the polar opposite of Kunimi when he sleeps.

Yahaba has to carefully step over a few of Oikawa's limbs coming from the opposite side of the room. He's flopped awkwardly on top of Iwaizumi, who appears to be grumpy even in his sleep. It's understandable, considering the predicament he's in. It looks like maybe he tried to push Oikawa off at some point, or at least move away, but clearly that effort was futile.

Matsukawa and Hanamakki are both entertwined in a way that neither seems to mind, but can't actually be comfortable. Somehow they managed to migrate in their sleep so that they're right in front of the door. Yahaba has to literally jump over them, but finally he's made it to the door without waking anyone.

That is, until he trips on the doorway.

***

Kyoutani wakes up suddenly. It's still dark out and everyone is asleep except for Yahaba, whose futon is lying empty in front of Kyoutani. Looking around, he sees Yahaba in the doorway. He looks worriedly around before creeping away.

The guilty look on Yahaba's face as he leaves says that he was definitely the one who woke Kyoutani up. Upon looking around, Kyoutani sees that he's the only other one awake. He doesn't want to be awake. But of course Yahaba woke him up. What the fuck is he up to, sneaking around in the middle of the night, anyway?

Kyoutani is going to figure it out.

He gets up and storms out of the room without much care. He's too pissed off and way too tired to care about things like that. Besides, everyone eles in that room sleeps like they're dead. He does spare a second to feel bad for Iwaizumi, though.

***

Yahaba is about to turn the corner when he almost has a heart attack. Kyoutani is also turning the corner, and he's just as startled as Yahaba. Yahaba almost screams and Kyoutani jumps back, throwing a reflexive arm in front of his face. Even in the moment, Yahaba notices how the new bruise on Kyoutani's arm he had seen earlier falls directly over Kyoutani's face as he blocks it.

It's not from volleyball.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" Kyoutani shouts in voice that's still hushed. Yahaba snaps back into reality.

"What do you mean?" Yahaba shoots back, "What are you doing out here? You scared the crap out of me! I thought you were asleep!"

"I _was_ ," Kyoutani hisses, "Until you fucking woke me up! What the hell are you even doing sneaking around?"

"I was just going to the bathroom. What are _you_ doing out here?" Yahaba asks defensively.

"Coming to yell at you for being a dipshit!"

"No need to lie, Kyoutani," Yahaba replies with a smirk, "You just wanted to see what I was up to. I have a stalker!"

"You're such an idiot," Kyoutani grunts, maybe a little flustered.

"But you aren't denying it," Yahaba teases.

"I didn't get up just to see your ugly face," Kyoutani protests, turning around. "Speaking of which, shouldn't you be getting back to your beauty sleep? You can't really afford to be missing this much of it."

"Well, it clearly isn't doing much for you," Yahaba replies, catching up.

"You're right, I'm just naturally this pretty. Thanks, Yahaba."

"I never said that."

"But you didn't deny it," Kyoutani says with a cruel grin.

"You're so ridiculous." He says it casually but he can feel himself blushing with embarassment as he looks away. Thankfully it's dark.

"Yahaba thinks I'm sooooo pretty," Kyoutani teases, raising his voice.

"Shhhh! Stop talking so loud!"

 

They all stand on the track catching their breath from their jog. It's the last day of the training camp, and Kyoutani has actually noticed improvement in their team. Everyone has been working hard, and things like these jogs are finally getting easier.

To his right he can see Kunimi and Kindaichi playing keep it up with a volleyball someone brought outside. They keep it up for a while, until Hanamaki jumps in front of Kindaichi out of nowhere and spikes the ball with all his strength. Kindaichi almost falls over.

Kyoutani watches as the ball flies into the field in the middle of the track, bouncing and eventually rolling into the soccer net.

"Goal!" Matsukawa shouts as Hanamaki gives him an aggressive high five.

"Wait a minute," Oikawa says with a devious grin, "I have an idea."

"Oh god, no."

 

Within twenty minutes, there are over twenty sweaty boys running around on the soccer field playing some weird hybrid between the two games.

They play with mostly volleyball rules. You can't let it hit the ground, you can't touch it twice in a row, and liberos can't set, though technically in this case setting would be called an assist. Some of the rules don't apply, like obviously it takes more than three touches to be able to score on a field this big. 

They also have to add a few things as they go. After someone drops the ball, it was decided that the other team gets to start with the ball from wherever it hit the ground. But with this rule, it was also necessary to add that if the ball was hit to the ground because of a block, the ball goes to the team who blocked it. It's confusing at first and they're making this shit up as they go.

They also kept a few rules from soccer. If the ball goes out, the other team puts it back in play with something called a throw in. A few kids who actually used to play soccer show everyone else how to do it. They also agree that whoever is in net can catch the ball if they have to because otherwise it's nearly impossible to block sometimes.

It takes a little while, but eventually everyone is playing this weird game. They split the starters and the regulars evenly, and eventually a few of the people who don't usually play in the official matches join in too. Somebody even went inside and got the practice jerseys. It's more commotion and crowding than Kyoutani is used to, but it turns out to be more fun than he thought it would be. They run down the field, receiving, setting, and serving their way toward the net. The other team tries to block and get the ball back.

Watari is guarding in one net, and in the other there's a very nervous looking first year who likes to play libero but doesn't play in official matches. He isn't bad, but he's far too timid for Kyoutani's taste. It's weird playing with this many people, especially the ones he doesn't even know. Kyoutani doesn't like it much, but it's fine.

He finds that shooting on a net like this takes more aim because of how far away it is when he gets the chance to shoot, but the ball hitting the back of the net after Yahaba sets it to him sounds just as satisfying as the ball smacking the floor of the court. That is, when Watari isn't there to save it. It pisses Kyoutani off because Watari is almost always right where he's trying to shoot, and he takes so much pleasure in saving the ball. It's irritating.

They play for a long time, and everyone seems really into it by the time they finish for the day. Even the coaches eventually come out, but instead of stopping them, they just watch, a little amused as they warm want them not to hurt themselves. They start to coach from the side lines. It's not like they can say it isn't good practice and it's the end of the last day of training camp so who really gives a shit?

Everyone is trying as hard as they can, pushing themselves. No one is holding anything back. People even dive and slide across the grass to save the ball. It's a hell of a workout, especially without cleats like you should have on a field, but Kyoutani couldn't care less.

No one seems to notice how much everyone is sweating. No one seems to care how hard they're breathing. No one seems to pay attention as the sun begins to dip lower. Everyone is too focused on the game, on the ball, on winning. It's fun considering how damn competitive everyone on their team is. Despite the disgusting amount of running in the heat, the amount of people swarming in the grass, Kyoutani really does have fun. Everyone does, and he gets a weird feeling. It's a good one, but the whole situation just gives him a strange nostalgic vibe. He's not sure what it is but he decides he likes it.

***

Whatever that was, it was the most fun Yahaba had all week so far. It wasn't even the game itself. Yeah, that was fun, and a nice change, but that wasn't it. The whole thing just felt different. It was so spontaneous and unorganized, yet somehow they managed to pull the chaos into one coherent thing. Something about it felt homemade, awkwardly thrown together with so much feeling. No one else would ever be able to replicate that moment how it was just then.

It was Oikawa's idea, and he did a lot to get it organized quickly. That's what you would expect him to be able to do as a captain. But it wasn't just him. It was everyone's ideas and thoughts smashed hastily together, and it worked. Even some of the timid first years that Yahaba didn't know had contributed. He was right about the training camp being a good opportunity to get to know the whole team. He learned the names of ten underclassmen. Some of them really came out of their shells.

Yahaba can't help but smile. No one can help it. They all eat like a huge family, laughing and recalling favorite parts of their stupid game. Everyone is happy, the room is practically glowing. Even Kyoutani to Yahaba's left seems happy.

He looks a little uncomfortable, being in such a tight space, but he looks like he's having a good time regardless. He's actually participating in the conversation, which takes everyone a little off guard.

Kyoutani is smiling, Yahaba notices. And it's his real smile, the sweet one he only gets when he genuinely cares about something. Yahaba knows that if Kyoutani hadn't cared about this team before, there's no doubt he does now. And that only makes Yahaba smile wider.

"What are you smiling at, idiot?" Kyoutani asks him, though there's no real bite behind the words.

"Your stupid face," Yahaba says, "You actually look happy."

"Of course I'm fucking happy," Kyoutani says defensively, looking away. Yahaba can't see his face but he can see the pink on his ears. "What do you think? I'm heartless?"

He's about to answer when Hanamaki does. "Yeah," he says with a smile, "But apparently not, congradulations!"

"Kyouken-chan has a heart!" Oikawa chirps. Kyoutani narrows his eyes at them and glares.

"He sleeps _and_ he can smile," Matsukawa adds with a smirk, "You learn something new every day."

"Matsun!" Oikawa squawks, pointing at Kyoutani, "Look what you did! You ruined it!"

"I'm pretty sure that was you, idiot," Iwaizumi scolds.

"This will forever be the moment in history where Kyoutani Kentarou swears to never smile again," Hanamaki says darkly.

"Then he goes on a heartfelt journey to find love," Matsukawa adds.

"All of you shut up," Iwaizumi commands.

"Yes, mom," Matsukawa and Hanamaki say together.

"I'm going to kill all of you."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love my sleepy boys. Also I really want to see this game played in real life. Again, thank you so much for reading and leaving me Kudos and comments! I appreciate it and I'll be back tomorrow with more!


	4. Reflexes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I don't know what the problem is.  
> It sounds like you like him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, today's prompt was either fighting or friendship and since we already had some nice friendship, it's time to break everybody's hearts by ruining everything and throw in some fighting!

Yahaba can't stop thinking about Kyoutani, and it's a problem.

It started after the training camp, or maybe during the training camp. He thinks back on everything that had happened, and no matter how hard he tries, his thoughts always come back to Kyoutani. He thinks about how excited he looked for once, how focused he was on giving it his all. How he actually smiled, that _real_ smile that looked so perfect on Kyoutani. He thinks about the stupid, insignificant things, like the way he always read a book before bed, how he likes to switch which hand he holds his chopsticks with, the way he texted his neighbor every night to make sure she took care of the dogs he loves so much. He thinks about how annoying he was when he'd tease Yahaba, but how cute he looked when people embarrassed him.

This isn't normal, Yahaba knows. It's fucking weird. He didn't even have this problem before. But then again, him and Kyoutani weren't friends before. But friends don't do this. Friends don't sit in their beds an think about how the other smiles, or about how he actually _noticed_ when he switched the hand he held his chopsticks with, or about how someone so damn annoying could still look so cute. 

No. Nope. Cute isn't the word. Yahaba doesn't know what the word is, but it isn't cute. He looks around his empty room to make sure there's no one reading his thoughts who could possibly catch him lying about it later.

The worst part is that everything Yahaba thinks about makes him realize how not normal all the things that he did during the training camp were. Well, he didn't really _do_ anything, but if he had subconsciously been noticing all these tiny details the whole time, it probably meant he had been staring a little too long, watching a little too closely. 

He hadn't even been trying to, and he didn't even notice until he thought about it. And now that he was thinking about it, this was _weird_. What if someone else had noticed? Oh god, what if Kyoutani noticed? He probably thinks Yahaba is a huge creep now. That's great.

Whatever this is, it's a problem that Yahaba doesn't want to think about, because even worse than the worst part, he has no idea what to do about it.

***

As Kyoutani sits down at lunch, he notices it again. Yahaba is acting strange. Kyoutani doesn't know much about reading people, but he does know that whatever is happening right now is wrong. It's not even that bad. Yahaba still talks to him, they still study some days, they practice together, but something with him is just off, and it's fucking annoying.

Watari has noticed, too, Kyoutani can tell. He doesn't say it, and he isn't really very obvious about it, but at the same time the way he watches Yahaba is so blatant, almost like he's trying to read his mind. Watari knows something is wrong, meaning it isn't just Kyoutani's imagination.

It pisses Kyoutani off that he can't tell what it is. Yahaba spaces out just a little bit more, sits just a little bit farther away, talks just a little bit less, but for some god damn reason it feels like so much. When he talks, it's like more words are coming out but he's saying less. Which makes no damn sense. None of this does. 

And it's making Kyoutani feel gross. It's been happening for a little while, this terrible feeling. He doesn't know when it started, but today isn't the first day he felt it.

It feels like someone is trying to dig out the hole that Kyoutani just finished filling, and the part that's the most frustrating is that for some reason it feels like it's his fault.

 

After his last class, Kyoutani waits outside of what he really hopes is Watari's last class. He's never even been down this hallway before, and he feels very out of place standing here. As the students begin to file out, Kyoutani waits, awkwardly hunched against the wall with his hands in his pockets. Only a few kids walk out before Watari does. They either stare or try to hurry away from Kyoutani. People are annoying.

Watari is startled at first by Kyoutani's presence, but it quickly gives way to his usual, friendly smile. 

"Hey, Kyoutani. What are you doing here?" Watari asks. Kyoutani can see people staring at him, whispering like always, but Watari doesn't even seem phased a he continues walking with Kyoutani next to him. "Do you need something?"

"Um." Shit, what the hell is he even trying to ask? And why is he so nervous all of a sudden? "You're good friends with Yahaba right? Like, he tells you shit." Kyoutani says finally.

"Yeah, sure. What about him?" Watari asks with a genuine interest and innocence that for some reason feels really irritating. It's almost like he thinks Kyoutani knows something he doesn't, and Watari really wants to know without Kyoutani noticing. It makes Kyoutani not want to talk, but it makes sense if Watari thinks Kyoutani knows what's up with Yahaba. This conversation probably isn't even going to help either of them, but who knows. Watari can read people better than Kyoutani, especially Yahaba.

"Do you know why he's being so," Kyoutani pauses and gestures awkwardly with his hands, "I don't know, just weird?" 

Watari seems to realize something. It's annoying because Kyoutani has no idea what.

"What?" he asks defensively.

"Nothing," Watari says, "I noticed it too. You think it's about you, though, don't you?"

"Wait, is it?" Kyoutani asks, worried that he did something wrong without noticing like an idiot. "Did he say something about me?" Oh god, if Watari knows something he doesn't, he probably sounds so stupid right now. Why did he do this?

"If he did, he didn't say it to me," Watari continues, and though Kyoutani has no reason to trust Watari, he has no reason to distrust him either. He just nods stiffly, a little relieved. "I'm worried about him too," Watari goes on, "But to be honest, I thought maybe you would know more than I do."

Kyoutani had the same hope, and now they're both in no better of a position than before, besides knowing someone else agrees there _is_ a problem. Kyoutani thinks back to the last thing Watari said, implying Kyoutani is worried about Yahaba. 

Thinking further on it, he _is_ worried about Yahaba. Whether he's said it or not, Kyoutani cares a lot about Yahaba. He doesn't have many people to care about, or even people close to him, but he's sure Yahaba is definitely one of them by now. It's a weird feeling, and it's a nice one.

But it's also a bad one, because now he's worried about him. But more than that, there's an even worse feeling that maybe this is his fault. Maybe he screwed something up, and he doesn't even know what he did wrong.

***

After practice, Yahaba walks to Watari's house to help him study for math. It's a slightly longer walk than to his own house, but they fill most of it with idle conversation.

About halfway through, Watari pulls out his phone and presses the buttons on it few times before turning to Yahaba.

"My phone is dead, can I use yours?" Watari asks, sliding it back in his bag. "I forgot to text my mom that you're coming over," he explains.

"Yeah sure," Yahaba says as he pulls out his phone and hands it to him. Watari types a quick message to his mom, but then, instead of giving it back, he holds onto it in the hand farthest from Yahaba, as if it's his. Yahaba holds his hand out expectantly, but Watari only looks up at him with a blank expression.

"Give it back," Yahaba says, extending his hand further.

"Oh, sure," Watari begins, "But not until you tell me what's wrong," he continues with an innocent smile. No. Yahaba is not doing this right now. 

"What? Is that why you took it?" Yahaba shouts, reaching to grab it. Watari holds it farther away and pushes at Yahaba's body with his other hand.

"No, I really did need to text my mom," he says innocently, "But now that I have some leverage, what's on your mind, Yahaba?" He asks it so genuinely, and right now it does nothing but piss Yahaba off. 

"I'm fine! Give it back!" he demands, trying to get around Watari.

"That's a lie, and you aren't getting this back until you tell me the truth." Why can't Watari ever let Yahaba ignore his issues in peace? Having good friends is annoying.

"It's not! Nothing is wrong!" Yahaba protests, but there's no confidence in his voice.

"Lying is wrong, Yahaba," Watari coos as he jogs a little bit ahead of Yahaba. He turns around, walking backwards while grinning at Yahaba.

"I'm telling the truth! Give me my phone, Watari!" Yahaba says, lunging forward only to grab at the back Watari's shirt where the phone once was.

"This is a long walk, Yahaba. I can do this all day," Watari says as he wriggles out of Yahaba's grasp. "Maybe I should get some help," He says typing on Yahaba's phone.

"Watari, no! You're being ridiculous!"

"No, you are," Watari says, holding the phone to his ear. "Hey, Hanamaki, this is Watari. I'm going to put you on speaker." 

"Watari, stop!" Yahaba says trying to grab the phone as he extends it in the air.

"Makki, make Yahaba tell me what's wrong. He's being stubborn," Watari demands, squirming away from Yahaba's grabbing hands.

 _"Oh, our perfect little Yahaba has problems?"_ Hanamaki coos on the other end, _"Do tell, Yahaba. The world is dying to know."_

"I hate both of you!" Yahaba shouts, pulling Watari's arm towards him. Watari switches hands and twists away.

"See?" Watari continues, unfazed, "Stubborn."

 _"Who's that?"_ Yahaba hears softly from the other end. Of course.

 _"It's Yahaba and Watari,"_ Hanamaki says, quiet from turning away from the receiver, _"Watari, Matsun is with me, so I'm putting you guys on speaker."_

_"What's happening?"_

_"Yahaba is about to tell us all about his emotional issues, get the popcorn."_

"Goodbye," Yahaba yells, managing to hit the end call button but not actually able to get the phone back before Watari pulls away.

"Hey, it's rude to hang up on people!" Watari says. 

"I'm not doing this with you right now."

"Ah!" Watari says, whipping around, "So you admit something needs to be done!"

"If I say yes, can I have my phone back?"

"Not until you tell me what's bothering you."

"I'm not going to talk about my problems in the middle of the street," Yahaba says, giving in. It's not like Watari would have given up any time this year. "Plus, I don't even _know_ what's wrong."

"Sounds like you do."

Maybe he does know what the problem is. And maybe he just doesn't know what to do about it. 

 

So, Yahaba explains it. He tells Watari about Kyoutani being on his mind, how the thoughts just keep coming back. He tells him about all the things he noticed at the training camp, how much of a creep he feels like for noticing them. He even tells him about Kyoutani's bruises, how he's too afraid to ask him about them but worries about Kyoutani every time he sees them. He talks for what feels like days, sprawled out on Watari's bed, emptying out every stray thought that's been lingering in his mind, and Watari listens.

He feels like an idiot by the end, for sharing so much, even if it is with Watari. He feels so stupid for everything that's happened, mostly because he's totally stumped by it all. 

"What if he thinks I'm a total creep now?" Yahaba asks, squeezing a pillow to his chest.

"He won't. He probably didn't even notice you staring, or any of that," Watari reassures him from where he sits in his desk chair. "No one else noticed."

"You don't know that," Yahaba protests weakly.

"No one has said anything about it," Watari continues, "And if anyone noticed, it wasn't Kyoutani, because he wouldn't have asked me about it if he knew." He says it so casually, like it doesn't make Yahaba's heart stop in his chest. 

"Wait, what?" Yahaba sputters, sitting up, "He asked you about me? When? What did he say? Does he think I'm weird? He hates me, doesn't he?" Yahaba fires off questions at Watari, not meaning to sound so desperate, but man, did it come off that way. He can feel his cheeks get a little warm.

"Calm down," Watari says as he switches to sit backwards on the chair, "He doesn't hate you, and he doesn't think you're weird. But he does think you're _acting_ weird, and he doesn't know why, so relax." 

Yahaba tries to relax, but it doesn't really work. At least Kyoutani doesn't know anything, but that probably means he's going to ask Yahaba about it, and he'll have to explain it somehow. Even the thought makes him want to disappear. 

"I think he was worried about you. He thinks it's his fault, which I guess, in a way, it is." 

This is weird. It's weird to think that Kyoutani could possibly be worried about Yahaba. He's never seen him worry about anyone. Does he care that much? That seems even weirder. But why? Of course he cares, they're friends. Yahaba cares about _him_. 

"What if he asks me about it?" Yahaba asks, rolling onto his face, "What am I even supposed to say?" he asks into the bed. 

"Just tell him the truth." 

Yahaba sits up again. "What even is the truth? I don't even know what my problem is!" 

"It sounds like you like him." 

"What? No. No, that is not what this is," Yahaba says frantically. "I do _not_. Have a _crush_. On _Kyoutani._ " That can't be what this is. It isn't. But he feels his face get red all the same. 

"It sure sounds like it," Watari continues, now spinning around in the chair, "With everything you said, and you literally can't stop thinking about him, Yahaba. With that in mind, everything makes sense, really." 

Maybe that's true, but Watari can't be right about this. Yahaba thinks about Kyoutani, but that isn't that weird, is it? Why can't friends think about their friend's smile, that may or may not be the sweetest thing Yahaba has ever seen? Or the way his ears turn red first when he's blushing, or how cute that blush may or may not be? Or how maybe that blush could be because of Yahaba? Or how maybe he hopes it is? 

Stop. This is bad, but it is not a crush. That's can't be a thing, can it? Still, Yahaba is literally contradicting what he thought this morning. 

Shit. Why is Watari always right? And what the hell is he supposed to do now? 

"I'm done talking about this." 

He's not done thinking about it. 

__

***

Kyoutani sits in his bed, petting the obnoxious ball of fur in his lap. She's purring, closing her eyes and opening them just enough to stare up at Kyoutani. He sighs looking down at the newly forming bruise on his shin as he scratches behind the cat's neck. This one is going to look bad, he can already tell, and there's no way he's ever going to be able to hide it. Which is fucking frustrating.

"See what I do for you, Lena?" He says, narrowing his eyes at the cat. "How come you get to pee on the floor and I get kicked in the shin because of it, huh?" The large grey cat presses her forehead to his stomach, the bell on her collar jingling.

Kyoutani huffs a laugh. "You think that makes up for it? He was aiming for you, ya know." He says angrily, but he can't help but smile as she rolls around in his lap, putting all her paws on his body. "You're welcome, stupid cat."

 

Later, trying to fall asleep with two dogs on the floor and Lena still on top of him, he can't help but wonder if Yahaba has ever met Lena. She's usually outside wreaking havoc on small communities of rodents whenever Yahaba is over, and she's really only inside at night. Yahaba says he has a cat, but it's timid and Kyoutani has never seen it. Has Kyoutani ever mentioned Lena to Yahaba?

Maybe next time he comes over he'll make Yahaba wait for Lena. Yahaba is a cat person, he'd probably do it. But that's if Yahaba even wants to come over. 

It still feels like he's creeping away. Maybe he doesn't like spending time with Kyoutani. Shit, maybe that's why he's acting weird. He hasn't been over in a while, and maybe that's just because he doesn't want to.

No. Can that be true? Kyoutani thought he was doing okay, but maybe he just isn't cut out for having friends. If it's his fault, should he apologize or something? That's kind of hard when he doesn't know what he's apologizing for. He doesn't even know what the problem is. He just knows that Yahaba is being weird and he doesn't like it. It feels like he should be doing something about it, but what the hell is he supposed to do?

***

Yahaba is in the locker room after practice. He tries not to look, but he can't help it when he glances over at Kyoutani. He has a new bruise on his leg this time, which has never happened before. It worries him. He should ask. He should, but he doesn't.

"I can fucking see you," Kyoutani spits, and it startles Yahaba. He can feel his face get hot.

Kyoutani sounds mad, but for some reason it doesn't really sound like it's directed at Yahaba. Yahaba looks over, and Kyoutani still hasn't looked at him. He just shoves some things in his locker and slams it. The expression on his face is one Yahaba has never seen.

"I'm sorry," Kyoutani says in a low voice. It takes Yahaba off guard.

"For what?" Yahaba asks. Then he remembers what Watari said. Kyoutani thinks this is his fault.

"I don't fucking know!" he grunts, putting some clothes in his bag with more force than is necessary. "For whatever the hell I did to make you start acting so god damn weird. I don't know what the hell it is, but you need to fucking stop because it's annoying." His ears are pink as he zips his bag and throws it over his shoulder.

"Oh, sorry, I guess," Yahaba says slowly. He didn't know any of this actually bothered Kyoutani that much.

"Don't be sorry, just stop it, dipshit." 

Yahaba realises that Kyoutani isn't going to press further, isn't going to ask him about it or make him explain. He's relieved, to say the least. And for now, Yahaba chooses to use this as his escape if this is all Kyoutani wants to hear.

"Okay," he says with a smile, and they leave together.

***

Kyoutani was right. They sit on his kitchen floor, petting the dogs and waiting for Lena to get home. Yahaba hadn't even known Kyoutani had a cat, but he's more than a little excited to meet her. It's almost cute.

Kyoutani looks over at Yahaba, who's talking about some movie Kyoutani has never seen as he strokes the soft hairs on Lady's forehead. Apologizing had worked, for now at least. Yahaba isn't acting weird anymore, which is a relief. It feels good, to have him being his usual self again, maybe even better than his usual self. It makes Kyoutani smile, which makes Yahaba smile, a real, unfiltered, happy smile. Which is one of the best things Kyoutani has ever seen.

Yahaba stays for a long time with Lena and Kyoutani and there's no longer a doubt in Kyoutani's mind that Yahaba must actually enjoy spending time with him, at least as much as he enjoys spending time with Yahaba.

***

It's almost a week later when Yahaba walks into the locker room and sees the bruise. As Kyoutani takes off his shirt, it's plain as day between his shoulder blades.

There's no way that's from volleyball. 

Maybe today he'll be brave. Maybe they're close enough for Kyoutani to tell him the truth. He sure hopes so.

***

Kyoutani can feel Yahaba behind him, can feel him staring. He knows he's been staring, and he knows what he's staring at. Kyoutani hasn't looked at it yet, but it can't look good. Self consciousness washes over him, and he hates it. He's so fucking tired of this.

"What are you trying to do, stare through me?" Kyoutani yells, turning around with his shirt held tight in his fist at his side. He sees Yahaba's startled eyes float across his chest. He knows there's a healing bruise on his collar bone too that Yahaba's eyes linger on. "Would you just look at my fucking face? I _know ___they're there!" Yahaba's eyes snap up to meet Kyoutani's. His expression is hard to look at. Kyoutani doesn't want to have this conversation. He shouldn't have said anything, and now he's mad at himself too. He doesn't want to lie to Yahaba.

Yahaba's face is surprised, but there's something else there, too, something Kyoutani can't place. "What are they from?" he asks, sounding nervous, but that look on his face is definitely something like determination. 

"It's none of your fucking business," Kyoutani spits. 

"You brought it up." Why didn't Kyoutani shut his fucking _mouth_. 

"Because you were staring!" Kyoutani yells back. He looks away. "I got in a fight, okay?" he says turning to put his shirt on. He doesn't want to look at Yahaba. It feels like he's trying to read his mind. 

"You must get in a lot of fights then," Yahaba continues, clearly not buying it. "But, I've never seen you hit anyone." Why can't Yahaba just leave him alone? He doesn't want to do this. 

"Well, you aren't always around, are you?" 

"No, but I know you." 

"What the fuck do you think you know about me?" Kyoutani yells, turning back around. Yahaba is startled but he holds his gaze firm. "You don't know shit." Kyoutani's mad, furious, but he can't help feeling bad for yelling at Yahaba. There's hurt somewhere under his brave act. 

"I know you better than most people," Yahaba says softly, a little offended even. It's true, Kyoutani knows. But this is what he gets for opening up. "And I can tell when you're lying." The words hurt more than Kyoutani was expecting. He doesn't _want_ to lie to Yahaba. Now he probably thinks Kyoutani doesn't trust him. But he does. He trusts Yahaba more than he's used to trusting anyone, and he's not sure what to do or how to feel about any of it. He isn't going to figure it out today. 

"I'm not doing this shit with you right now," Kyoutani says, moving to leave. He tries not to look at Yahaba. "It's not your fucking problem, and it's none of your damn business." He has to get out of here before he makes this worse. 

"It is when I'm worried about you!" He doesn't sound brave anymore. Only desperate. 

"I don't _want_ you to worry about me, you don't have to. So just forget about it." Kyoutani goes to push past Yahaba to the door. 

"Kyoutani," Yahaba begins, turning and shooting out a hand that grabs at Kyoutani's shoulder. 

Kyoutani doesn't think. The feeling, the touch, the reaction. It's all reflex. Something surges through him, and before his brain can catch up to his body, it's too late. 

He punches Yahaba. 

__

***

Yahaba didn't mean to grab Kyoutani, and he really should've thought about how stupid it was before he did it. But it was a reflex. He finally had the guts to ask him about his bruises, and now he was leaving without giving Yahaba the answers he wanted. He had to do something. But he didn't think about it.

When Kyoutani whips around, Yahaba knows it's his own fault. When Kyoutani's fist hits him in the shoulder, pushing him back and making him release his grip, he knows it's his own fault. When the pain hits him hard as he catches himself, he knows it's his own fault. Still, he knows he looks shocked, knows he's standing there, eyes wide, mouth slightly open. An instinctive hand comes up to grab the spot where he was hit. It'll definitely bruise. How ironic.

Kyoutani stares back at him in horror. His eyes are open wide as he backs slowly away from Yahaba, clearly not knowing what to do with himself. He suddenly looks so small. Yahaba knows it's his own fault. Kyoutani doesn't.

"Oh god, I didn't--I didn't mean to!" Kyoutani stutters out, sounding just as horrified as he looks. Before Yahaba can come back to reality, find his voice again, tell Kyoutani it's Yahaba's fault, he's gone.

He's gone and it's Yahaba's fault.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wasn't that a happy chapter? It's so cute...until it's not. But, it gets better, I promise. How many of you thought that awkward bit in the beginning was the fight? Anyways, as always, I hope you enjoyed and there will be more tomorrow! Also, I seriously appreciate all the comments and kudos everyone leaves! Feel free to leave me comments or ask me any questions you have, because I do read them and I'd be happy to answer them. Thanks!
> 
>  
> 
> (Also for anyone who cares, this is the meaning behind the title. My sibling (aka the comma police) who ever so kindly reads these over before I post them, asked me yesterday about the title, so I decided to throw an explanation in the notes for anyone else who's curious. This seemed like a good chapter to leave it on. Basically, I read all these Kyouhaba fics where they hated each other and then suddenly they were kissing and in love, which is nice sometimes but a little unrealistic. It was like they were falling for the person and they couldn't even see it until they were kissing. But in this, I wanted them to actually get closer first, like they were falling for each other, but they could actually see it happening. Hence the title: Falling with your eyes open.)


	5. Shooting the Arrow

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Take two steps back, and three steps forward.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, today's prompt is date. But first to deal with this... Also, it got a bit long so I stopped a little before the actual date. Anyways, hope you enjoy the update!
> 
> (Also for anyone who noticed large amount of italics, that happened for reasons I will never know, but I fixed it.)

Kyoutani ruined it. Anything he did right, he just fucking wrecked it.

As he runs away from the school, from Yahaba, from what he did, all the thoughts in his head beg for attention all at once. 

He didn't mean to, he really didn't mean to hit Yahaba. The feeling right before, like he was trapped. He just wanted to get out. He didn't want to lie anymore, he didn't want to talk anymore, he just wanted to leave before he did something stupid. But he was too late. The familiar weight of a hand pressed hard on his shoulder, the surging sense of panic that goes with it. It was a reflex, he knows. 

But it still happened. What if Yahaba doesn't know it was a reflex? Oh god, he probably hates him. Then again, Kyoutani told him he didn't mean to. Right before he ran away. Maybe Yahaba hates him anyways for running, or the things he said. Kyoutani knows he saw hurt somewhere in his face. He doesn't like thinking about it.

It makes him so fucking _mad_ at himself. He doesn't _like_ hitting people. People see him, and they make up whatever they want about Kyoutani. They pick what fantasy they think fits his exterior. It's always something violent. There's always a story floating around about one fight or another that Kyoutani was supposedly in. They can think whatever they want. But that doesn't make it true.

And of all the people in the world for Kyoutani to actually hit, even if it was an accident, of _all_ the people it could've been, it was Yahaba. Why did it have to be Yahaba? He would feel bad either way, but something in him hurts so much more knowing that he hurt Yahaba, one of the few people that Kyoutani can say he actually _cares_ about. And he cares so damn much. Why did this have to fucking happen? It makes him so mad, because what the hell is he supposed to do now?

Everything is ruined. It's not like Yahaba will want to be around him now. It was clear that Yahaba had already caught Kyoutani in his lie. He probably thinks Kyoutani doesn't trust him, which isn't true. But Kyoutani just didn't want to talk to anyone about it then. He can't help the fact that he had a bad day, he can't help how defensive he gets when someone asks.

Kyoutani knows Yahaba was only pressing because he cares. Yahaba fucking _cares_. About Kyoutani, of all people. What did Kyoutani ever do to deserve someone like him? 

Doesn't even matter now. Kyoutani fucking shut him out. For a moment, it had felt like he was drowning, and in that moment he fell back so far, back into the routine self defense of closing everything away, where no one else can see it. He shut Yahaba out, just like everyone else, but this time he doesn't feel fine. This time it feels like someone is digging out the hole, clean of everything that Kyoutani had tried to fill it with. This time, it doesn't stop at the horrible emptiness from before, it goes further. Like someone is digging deeper, past the layer of numbness to a place that hurts like Kyoutani has never felt before. 

But it isn't someone else doing it. It's _him_. Which is fucking awful.

It's his own damn fault and that's the worst part. He turns a corner into an ally and leans up against the wall. He closes his eyes, pressing his palms to his face, and it's then that he lets the anger wash over him, fill his lungs and his veins. He lost Yahaba, and it's his own fucking fault. He lost the best thing he's felt in so long.

***

Yahaba stares at the empty space where Kyoutani once was, still making the same shocked face, still holding a hand to his shoulder, still unable to move. He could go after him, but what would that accomplish? There's no doubt in his mind that Kyoutani thinks this is his fault, that he feels bad for hitting Yahaba. Which is why Yahaba needs to talk to him so bad, to tell him that it isn't his fault, that he still wants Kyoutani around. But he can't make himself move.

Yahaba knows it's his fault. He stepped too far into Kyoutani's personal business and pushed just a little too hard. Yeah, a few of the things Kyoutani said hurt, but it was only because Yahaba pushed him into a defensive position. Maybe Kyoutani won't open back up. Maybe he ruined it all just then. 

They've gotten so far, and now, because of Yahaba, everything is messed up. He has to fix it. But it's not like he's going to find Kyoutani today. It's not like he'll want to talk to him after this, especially if he thinks it's his own fault. 

The last thing Yahaba wants to do is lose Kyoutani. And maybe he just did.

He goes to reach for his phone and realizes his hands are shaking. He tries to stop it, but it's with trembling fingers that he dials Watari's number. The phone rings and Yahaba can feel his eyes sting. He blinks it away as Watari's voice comes over the phone. 

_"Hey, Yahaba,"_ he chirps cheerfully, _"What's up?"_

"I think I messed everything up."

***

The thoughts don't leave Kyoutani. They only get worse, and his anger only grows with it. He's mad at himself. He knew he'd mess things up somehow. That's why Kyoutani never has friends; he just isn't good at it.

The anger builds up, fills him to the breaking point, and it finally escapes his body as he throws his weight into punching the wall ahead of him. The pain explodes in his knuckles and shoots up his arm, but it feels like he deserves it. He looks down, opening and closing his fist. Nothing is broken, but blood begins to drip down his hand, and there's already a little bruising around the prominent bones. It feels fine.

The anger leaves, and now all Kyoutani feels is something softer, but at the same time so much worse. He doesn't know exactly what the feeling is, but he lets it swallow him up for a little while. Kyoutani slides slowly down the wall onto the ground. He sits there for a while, knees pulled tight to his chest, head resting against the cool wall. He closes his eyes to stop the sting and just breathes.

 

After some amount of time that Kyoutani loses track of, he can hear footsteps, soft and getting louder. There's also a voice with them. He can't make out much at first, but he tenses up the moment he recognizes it as Yahaba. Kyoutani slides further into the darkness between the two buildings.

"I know," Yahaba says, getting closer, "But would it even be worth it? At this point, I really just want everything how it was before." He's too far away for Kyoutani to hear any more. But that was enough. 

Yahaba doesn't need Kyoutani around.

***

_"So,"_ Watari begins after Yahaba has explained everything he possibly can, _"What you're saying is that you cornered him, and poked and prodded at all the wrong places?"_

"You're really helping me feel better here, Watari," Yahaba says flatly.

 _"You didn't say you wanted me to help you feel better,"_ Watari points out casually, _"You want help fixing it."_

Yahaba only sighs at that. Why is Watari always right? It's annoying.

_"Do you still like him?"_

"Yes, Watari, I still like him, which makes everything suck more," Yahaba replies, "I just felt like we were getting somewhere, and now I ruined it."

 _"Yeah, but you ruined it because you care,"_ Watari adds.

"Not helping," Yahaba sighs. "Anyways, that doesn't even matter right now. I just want him back as a friend, at least. I don't want to lose him completely."

 _"Well, I still think you should tell him,"_ Watari suggests.

"Like he'd ever like me back, especially now," Yahaba says. "He probably hates me or something."

_"You won't know until you try."_

Of course he won't know until he tries, but so much could go wrong. Maybe Kyoutani does hate him. Yahaba wouldn't blame him, he completely overstepped his bounds. He invaded both Kyoutani's personal business and his personal space.

Plus, even if he does open up to Yahaba again, maybe he won't even want to be more than friends. Maybe Yahaba is reading it all wrong. He'll just think Yahaba is a creep and then he'll loose the friendship, too. Then again, Yahaba has already lost that. It hurts to think about.

And then there's the larger issue. What if Kyoutani doesn't even like boys? What does he like? Yahaba has never seen Kyoutani be interested in anyone, actually.

 _"You're thinking too hard,"_ Watari chimes in, cutting off his thoughts, _"I can practically feel it from here. You're wondering if he likes boys, aren't you?"_ Why is Watari always right? It's actually a little scary how good at reading Yahaba he's become. 

"No," Yahaba starts, unconvincingly, "But what if he doesn't?"

 _"Think about it this way,"_ Watari begins, _"Someone who's never been seen dating anyone ever is actually more likely to be some kind of gay than someone who's dated a girl before. The odds are in your favor,"_ he finishes with what Yahaba knows, even from here, is a stupid grin.

He rolls his eyes at that, even if there might be some strange truth to his logic. Still, if it doesn't go well, he could lose Kyoutani all together. He'd rather have him as a friend than not at all. "But would it even really be worth it? At this point, I really just want everything how it was before. I want him in my life, even if it's just as a friend."

 _"That's fine for now,"_ Watari begins, _"But you can't live like this forever. He'll never know if you never tell him, Yahaba."_

"But what if--"

 _"Stop with the hypotheticals and just talk to him! It doesn't even matter if you tell him or not right now, you still need to clear everything up."_ Watari says. _"But I do think you should tell him,"_ he adds.

Maybe he will and maybe he won't. Either way there's still the issue of actually talking to him, which Yahaba knows will be easier said than done.

***

He's asleep on the couch, so it's easy enough for Kyoutani to sneak past him and up the stairs unnoticed. He walks past his room, where he can see Shiba and Lady on his bed already, to the bathroom.

As he cleans the blood off his hand in the sink, Kyoutani can hear the light jingling of collars as both dogs try to push into the small bathroom. Fur brushes his legs as he cleans the wound. It hurts, and the bruising is worse now, but it's fine. He digs through the medicine cabinet until he finds something to wrap it up with. He puts on an amount of antibiotic cream that he really isn't sure about before hiding the wounds and purple marks beneath the clean, white gause. 

Kyoutani creeps downstairs as quietly as he can, sneaking at a snail's pace past the couch and into the kitchen. There's a pair of green eyes waiting for him just outside the glass door in the kitchen. He slides the door open slowly, letting in Lena, then closes it with the same amount of care. She rubs against his legs, and he's about to turn around and make his escape when he realizes it's too late. 

"What the hell did you do to your hand?"

***

Yahaba watches as Kyoutani leaves the gym. He's leaving early again. That's what he does now. For the past few days, as Yahaba expected, Kyoutani has avoided him. Every time Yahaba sees him, he goes the other way. Every time he thinks he'll be able to get a word out, Kyoutani slips away somehow. He's nowhere to be found at lunch anymore. Kyoutani shows up late to practice and leaves early. During practice, it's worse. He avoids him still, but Kyoutani won't even look at him.

He also notices the way Kyoutani's right hand is wrapped up, the way he tries to spike more with his left, the way he winces when he uses his right anyways. Maybe it's from the same thing as the bruises, or maybe it's because of Yahaba.

He knows Kyoutani doesn't want to talk to him, but Yahaba needs to tell him that it isn't his fault. Every time Yahaba thinks he's close, Kyoutani slips away. 

He just keeps slipping further away.

 

After practice, Yahaba is about to leave when someone stops him.

"Yahaba," Oikawa chirps, "Hold on, don't leave yet!" He turns around to see Oikawa jogging towards him. Yahaba notes that Iwaizumi is nowhere nearby for once. 

"I need to talk to you really quick," Oikawa continues with a grin as he slows to a stop. The look on his face says this isn't going to be a good talk.

"Okay," Yahaba says reluctantly.

"Good," Oikawa says quickly as he drapes a hand over Yahaba's shoulders. "Now, what's going on between you and Kyouken-chan?" Yahaba's heart stops.

"What do you mean?"

"Don't play dumb, Yahaba," Oikawa starts. This isn't good. Does he know? "As captain, I like my team working together like a well oiled machine. It's clear that something is going on between you and him. It's like you've just thrown a huge rock in my machine, Yahaba."

"Oh," Yahaba says, "Sorry."

"Don't be sorry," Oikawa says with a smile. "The point is, I like my team getting along, and right now, for whatever reason, you two are not. So what's wrong with my Yahaba, and how can I help?" Oikawa is far too peppy about this, and it's a little off-putting.

"He's just avoiding me," Yahaba says looking down. It's not untrue.

"I see," Oikawa says, thinking, "Why is that?"

"I don't know," Yahaba lies. He knows Oikawa is aware it's a lie, regardless of whether or not he knows what the truth is. Oikawa seems to know everything about everybody, which is a little scary. Despite the flimsy excuse, he lets him go. It's clear that Oikawa isn't done thinking about it, but for now, Yahaba is just happy to get out of there.

***

Yahaba has been trying to talk to Kyoutani, that much is clear. It makes Kyoutani think that maybe he should just let him. But something always pushes the thought away. Maybe it's what Yahaba said on the phone, maybe it's just him.

Yahaba doesn't need someone like Kyoutani.

 

He's in the locker room when Iwaizumi corners him.

"Hey, can we talk before you leave?" Iwaizumi asks, sounding friendly but oddly serious. Not this again. Still, Kyoutani finds himself nodding stiffly as he puts his shirt on. "So, what happened between you and Yahaba?" Kyoutani freezes. That's not at all what he was expecting and he tries not to visibly panic.

"What do you mean?" Kyoutani grunts.

"I mean, you two haven't even looked at each other all week," Iwaizumi says. "That usually doesn't just happen for no reason."

"I punched him."

"Wait, what?" Iwaizumi sounds more confused than Kyoutani thinks he should be. It's like he knows something Kyoutani doesn't, which is annoying.

"He got in my space. I punched him. That's it." Kyoutani hates lying, but at least this is a little bit true. "Anyways, I have to go now," he says pushing past Iwaizumi to the door. Kyoutani can feel his stare on him as he leaves, but he doesn't stop him.

 

It's been a week by the time Yahaba finally corners Kyoutani. Until then, Kyoutani was doing a good job of avoiding him, slipping away, leaving practice early, arriving late, finding excuses. He just doesn't want to see him, see the bruise that peeks out from under the collar of his shirt. Yahaba doesn't need Kyoutani around screwing anything else up. But it doesn't work forever.

He's about to leave the locker room when Yahaba shows up. He shouldn't be here. Practice hasn't ended yet, but there he is all the same. Yahaba stands in front of the door and looks down at Kyoutani. He avoids his gaze, looks away from Yahaba, away from the mark he left, away from everything he did wrong.

***

"Would you stop avoiding me?" Yahaba asks. "I just want to talk."

"Well I don't," Kyoutani says reaching for the door. He still won't look at Yahaba and it's beyond frustrating. Yahaba slides in front of the handle and Kyoutani flinches back. He's not letting him slip any farther away.

"No," Yahaba says firmly, though he knows he sounds nervous. "You're not running away from me anymore." Kyoutani slumps a little, looking to the side, and Yahaba takes it as his cue to keep talking. "This isn't your fault, okay? So stop acting like it is."

"I'm not _acting_ like it is," Kyoutani spits. "It is my fault."

"Why would any of this be your fault?"

"I hurt you," he says looking angrily away. Yahaba knows that anger isn't meant for him.

"Because I was an idiot and I pushed too far, and I'm sorry for that. It wasn't any of my business and I should've left you alone before it came to that," Yahaba says quietly as he glances away. 

"But I don't want to hurt you again," Kyoutani says, clenching his fists, "I didn't mean to the first time, and who knows if I'll do something stupid again? I don't _want_ that, Yahaba."

"It wasn't your fault, and even if it was, I don't care! I'm not blaming you so stop with all this bullshit!" Yahaba persists. For a moment, there's confusion on Kyoutani's face.

"Well I fucking care!" Kyoutani shoots back, finally meeting Yahaba's eyes. He can't help but notice something off there. "I don't hurt people, Yahaba! And I _hurt_ you!"

" _This_ is hurting me!" Yahaba shouts, and Kyoutani looks away. He can feel the sting in his eyes, but he blinks it away. "You think I like this better? Do you think I like having you avoid me?" Kyoutani furrows his brow at the wall.

"You don't need me around screwing things up."

"How many times do I have to say it's not your fault?" Yahaba yells, and he can hear his voice straining, " _I_ screwed up! I messed everything up, and all you've done is make me feel worse about it."

Kyoutani is silent for a long time. He just stares at something in the distance with an expression Yahaba can't read. So he just keeps going. "I don't _want_ to lose you. I don't _want_ you to go away. I _care_ about you. I like having you around. I actually enjoy spending time with you even though sometimes I know you don't believe that other people could possibly enjoy your company. _I do_. I like you a lot, so don't think you can just decide I don't need you around, because I _want_ you around!"

Kyoutani is silent for just a little too long, unmoving. Yahaba knows he just messed it all up. He probably said too much.

Which is why it's so surprising when Kyoutani hugs him. He lunges forward and flings his arms around Yahaba's torso. He holds Yahaba tight and buries his face in his shoulder.

To most people, a hug isn't much. But Kyoutani isn't most people. This is Kyoutani, who hates being touched and touching people more than anything, and now he has Yahaba's entire body in his arms. This is Kyoutani, who fears human contact, with his chest pressed right against Yahaba's. This is Kyoutani, the boy who doesn't trust anyone with his heart, burying his face right next to Yahaba's neck, and maybe it's to hide the way his eyes water. This is Kyoutani, the boy who didn't think anyone could care about him, realizing someone cares so much.

And Yahaba hugs back. He wraps his arms tight around Kyoutani. He holds him for fear of him slipping away again. But he isn't going anywhere.

Yahaba notices Oikawa's back slipping away as the door to the locker room swings shut.

***

Kyoutani lays on the floor of his bedroom with his head on Shiba's stomach and Lady curled up by his feet. He knows the hole is full again. He feels better than he has in so long. Not only did he get Yahaba back in his life, but Yahaba wants him in his life. Yahaba cares about him, and he cares about Yahaba. He cares so much and he knows it goes both ways. It's a good feeling, and it makes him smile.

***

Yahaba sits on his bed with a sleepy cat on his chest and Watari on the floor next to him. Everything feels right. Not good or bad, just right. It's nice.

"So," Watari says as he swings around to lay on his back and put his feet on the bed, "Did you ever tell him?" he asks.

"In a way," Yahaba says, thoughtfully, "I think he knows."

***

As he wanders through the farmer's market, Kyoutani is already regretting this idea. He feels incredibly out of place, and he's definitely lost. He has no idea what he's looking for as he mills about aimlessly, glaring at the hastily written list of things he needs. He walks over to a stand full of all different kinds of leafy, green vegetables and stares at them as if it will make the correct one reveal itself.

He picks up one of them and inspects it as if will have the name written on it somewhere. He physically jumps when someone asks him if he needs help. He looks up to see a sweet looking girl with short cropped brown hair and an apron on. Though she's smiling, she looks a little nervous as Kyoutani stares skeptically at her.

"What is this?" he asks finally, holding out the vegetable. 

"That's a leek," she answers confidently with a smile.

"Oh," Kyoutani says putting it down. "Do you have the same thing but," he gestures awkwardly with his hands, "Smaller?"

"Oh, you mean a scallion?" she asks. "Or a green onion, same thing."

"I think so."

"Yeah, they're over here," she says leading him away. She helps him get the right amount before asking if he needs anything else.

"Um," Kyoutani looks down at the list, feeling a little embarrassed. He only knows what a few of these are.

She laughs, "Here, I'll help you." To Kyoutani's relief, the girl is able to help him find everything he needs quicker than he ever could have on his own, and she even helps him get the right amounts and gives him a few tips for cooking them along the way. He thanks her before heading to the store to get a few more things. He should really cook more often, because he has just as much trouble there.

 

At home, Kyoutani has even more trouble. He squints at the video he pulled up on his phone. It says it's an easy recipe, but that's probably for people who actually cook sometimes. 

Cutting the vegetables and the meat is easy enough. Making the dough is a struggle. The first time, he measures the flour wrong and has to start over. The second time, he does it right, but dough is fucking annoying. He tries to put the filling in, but it just keeps sticking to his hands and ripping open. After a lot of yelling at inanimate objects and a few ugly attempts, he finally gets the hang of it. Kind of. Good enough.

But the cooking part is a whole other story. To begin with, he's afraid of burning the food, or screwing it up in some other way. Little does he know that people who cook use a secret language that makes no damn sense.

 _"Cook uncovered until water is crisp,"_ the little voice in his phone says.

"What the fuck does that mean? Water doesn't get crisp!" Kyoutani yells at the phone.

Cooking is hard.

But, this is going to be worth it.

Eventually.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All is well! (And for anyone who wants to know, he's making pork buns. The crisp water thing may or may not be a real experience.) Thank you all so much for reading and leaving me kudos and comments. I seriously love reading them, it makes my day! I'll be back tomorrow with more! (It might come out a little later than they have been lately because I'll be working long distance with my comma police)
> 
> (Side note: this chapter title may seem totally random, but it's because of that whole arrow metaphor where the arrow has to be pulled backwards before it shoots forward and all that good jazz. Two steps back, and a bunch of steps forward.)


	6. Just Guessing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kyoutani and Yahaba try to figure out whatever this is.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this chapter so much later than usual, but this chapter was kind of hard to write. Also, I was busy and though I love it, putting out a chapter every day for a week is hard to keep up with. I decided to do this last minute so I didn't write anything ahead of time. The point is, it's 2:30am and I haven't slept yet, so to me, it's still Friday. Anyways, today's prompt was travel and I didn't really know how to put travel into this story so I kind threw in some stuff that I guess can be considered travel. I also noticed this chapter was a lot of Yahaba's point of view for some reason, so I'm sorry it's a little uneven. Either way, I hope you enjoy it!

Yahaba didn't really know what to expect when Kyoutani asked him to come over. It was a little weird because usually when they hang out after practice, they just walk home together. Maybe he has something to do first. 

But what's even weirder is the fact that Kyoutani took a different route from the school, meaning he probably didn't even go straight home after practice. But, where could he have possibly gone? Yahaba has never really seen Kyoutani go anywhere after school except home, or occasionally the store, but that isn't in the direction Kyoutani went either. So what is he even up to?

And to make it all even more unusual, when Yahaba had asked, Kyoutani wouldn't tell him where he was going. Kyoutani will tell you almost anything if you just ask, but this time he just grunted and walked away. 

It's all very suspicious, and Yahaba honestly can't tell if this is going to be a good thing or a bad thing. It's worrisome, even makes him a little nervous, which is annoying. He'll never admit it, but the wait until he's supposed to be at Kyoutani's is killing him.

Despite that, when Yahaba finally arrives at Kyoutani's house, for some reason it's way more nerve wracking when he's walking up by himself instead of walking home with Kyoutani. It's not like it's really any different than any other time he's been over, or at least he doesn't think it is. 

He waits on the sidewalk for a minute, since walking in front of the house is as good as knocking once the dogs see him. He mentally prepares himself for whatever this weird surprise could be, then finally forces himself to walk up to the door. Before he gets there, the door is opening, revealing a slightly annoyed looking Kyoutani and two very excited, barking dogs.

Kyoutani greets Yahaba, and as he walks in, it hits him. He isn't really sure what he was expecting, but it certainly wasn't Kyoutani cooking.

***

Yahaba looks surprised, which is probably a good thing because this was supposed to be as surprise, but it still feels weird, and Kyoutani finds himself oddly nervous.

"It must be really nice out or something," Kyoutani says with a smirk as Yahaba slides off his shoes, looking confused. "With how long you were standing out there enjoying the sidewalk," he continues with a grin. "What are you afraid to come here all by yourself?"

"Shut up," Yahaba shoots back, but Kyoutani doesn't miss the blush creeping across his face as they walk into the kitchen. "Anyways, since when do you cook?" Yahaba asks, "Are you checking to make sure the smoke detectors work?" he adds with a sly smile. Kyoutani glares, but it's not really a mean gesture.

"No," Kyoutani says as he grabs the two plates of pork buns off the counter and brings them to the table. "I didn't even burn them, surprisingly."

"So why the sudden urge to cook?" Yahaba asks as Kyoutani sets the plates down and puts down two more empty ones. He can just barely see Yahaba inspecting the food and it makes him nervous. He didn't have time to try one, so he really hopes he didn't fuck anything up too bad. That would be awful.

"I don't know," Kyoutani says turning around to walk to the fridge. He's thankful for the excuse because he knows his cheeks are getting hot. "You always cook for me, so I figured I'd cook something for you that isn't a TV dinner for once."

"Oh," Yahaba says and Kyoutani can hear the chair slide out against the wooden floors. Kyoutani can't really read anything about Yahaba's actual emotion from just his voice, and he can't see his face. It doesn't sound bad, but he can't help but feel a little worried.

"Yeah, I knew you liked pork buns," Kyoutani says grabbing the soy sauce and turning around, "And the recipe I looked up said it was easy. But it was still fucking confusing."

"How can it be confusing?" Yahaba asks with a little smile that Kyoutani realises a little too late that he's staring at. 

"Do you know what 'water being crisp' means?" Kyoutani asks angrily as he sits down. It had been pretty obvious while Kyoutani was cooking what the stupid recipe meant by that, but the wording was still annoying. 

"What?"

"Exactly."

***

"Anyways," Kyoutani says, "I didn't know if you liked spicy food or not, so the one on the left is the spicy batch. And there's soy sauce if you need it."

Yahaba can't help but notice how nervous Kyoutani actually looks. He's trying to look normal, but Yahaba can see it in the slight difference in the furrow of his brow as he stares at the food instead of Yahaba.

Though he tried to play it cool when he walked in, Yahaba actually can't get over how sweet it is that Kyoutani tried to cook just for him. He knows Kyoutani doesn't do home cooked meals that often, especially not anything with more than a few steps. To most people, it would probably seem like a small gesture, but it means so much more than that coming from Kyoutani. Yahaba wonders if Kyoutani knows how much it really means.

"Thanks," Yahaba says finally, picking up a bun from each plate to put on his own plate. Kyoutani watches him closely before taking two off the spicy plate. Somehow that isn't surprising.

Kyoutani watches Yahaba, the expression on his face focused, but unreadable beyond that. His eyes dart back and forth between Yahaba and the food. Kyoutani has one in his own hand, but it's not actually anywhere near his mouth.

"Are you going to eat that, or just hold it?" Yahaba asks with a small grin. His nerves haven't calmed down yet and he's not sure why.

"I could ask you the same thing." Kyoutani says, his expression softening a little. "Just eat the damn thing already," he grunts, glancing away.

"Why do you care so much?" Yahaba asks, laughing a little.

"Because I've never cooked these before and I didn't have time to try one before you came," Kyoutani says quietly, ears turning a little pink. "I don't know if they came out good or not, so I'm sorry if they suck."

Kyoutani looks away and it's clear he's self conscious about the food. Yahaba finds himself thinking it's kind of cute, how much Kyoutani cares about something like this. It makes Yahaba smile, wide and real, which seems to make Kyoutani relax, if only a little.

He takes a bite and surprisingly, or maybe not so surprisingly, it's really good. Yahaba can picture Kyoutani trying really hard to do everything perfectly and making sure nothing got messed up. He probably furrowed his brow the way he does when he's concentrating, like when he's reading. Sure the pork buns look a little off compared to professionally made ones, but there's so much care put into what's on the inside that it really doesn't mater.

It's actually a little bit like Kyoutani, in a weird way. The thought actually makes Yahaba laugh. This only makes Kyoutani look really confused and a maybe little concerned as he watches him from across the table, cackling hysterically to himself.

"What?" Kyoutani asks, "They're bad, aren't they?" For some reason this only makes Yahaba laugh harder.

"No, no," he manages to get out, a little afraid he might choke, "They're actually really good."

"So why the fuck are you laughing?" Kyoutani asks. He sounds angry, but there's a smile creeping across his face as he watches Yahaba. He's laughing so hard. It isn't even that funny, it's not at all really, but for some reason Yahaba can't stop. He probably looks like a total idiot, but Kyoutani is smiling wider, so it's worth it.

"I," Yahaba starts before cutting himself off with more laughter.

"What?" Kyoutani persists as he tries to continue eating.

"I was comparing you to a pork bun," Yahaba gets out between laughter.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Kyoutani says, shaking his head, "That's not even that funny," he continues, but he's laughing a little now too, and Yahaba swears it has to be the best thing he's ever seen the boy do. It fills him with such a warm feeling. 

"I know," Yahaba giggles out. God, it really isn't that funny, but somehow it just is. And it's then that Yahaba snorts so damn loud. 

"Did you just fucking snort?" 

"Shut up. No. Maybe."

***

They sit on Kyoutani's bed with the dogs, and eventually Lena, and just talk for a while. Kyoutani is happy, with Shiba behind him and Lady by his side as he watches Yahaba pet Lena and rant about one thing or another. It feels good, like this is how it's supposed to be.

Kyoutani is happy that dinner went well. He managed not to screw anything up and after a while, the weird nerves left too. He didn't really need to be nervous. It was the same thing they always did except with a little more thought and a little less eating on the floor in the living room. He got to see Yahaba smile so bright and laugh so hard, and it just left Kyoutani with this warm feeling. It isn't a bad feeling, but he still isn't really sure what to do about it. 

Kyoutani looks at the clock on his nightstand and sees that it's gotten way later than he thought, and it's dark out now.

"Shit, it's late," Kyoutani says looking outside. He keeps going before he has time to change his mind, "You can stay here. If you want to. You probably shouldn't walk home in the dark anyways." Oh god, what if he says no? He coild probably just get a ride home. Kyoutani didn't even think of that. It's been quiet a little too long. This was stupid. Kyoutani can feel his ears turning pink.

"Oh," Yahaba says, sounding a little surprised. There's something in his expression that Kyoutani can't place before it turns into a small smile. "Sure, that should be fine," he continues, "Just let me text my mom."

Relief washes over Kyoutani as he watches Yahaba pull out his phone and type a quick message. There's a hint of something else, but Kyoutani doesn't quite know what it is and he doesn't focus on it for too long.

***

As Yahaba brushes his teeth in Kyoutani's small bathroom with a spare toothbrush, he's not quite sure what to think. He finds himself being a little nervous, but he pushes it away in favor of the thoughts swirling in his head.

Kyoutani asked Yahaba to stay over, which doesn't mean much but at the same time it means so much. First of all, this means that Kyoutani wants to spend even more time with Yahaba, which is a relief because Yahaba found himself being really reluctant to leave. That's probably how they lost track of time in the first place. 

But, maybe it's just because it's too late to walk home like he said. That does mean that Kyoutani cares about Yahaba, but he still can't tell in what way. Maybe he doesn't like Yahaba the way Yahaba likes him at all. Maybe he just imagines the thoughtful way Kyoutani looks at him. Maybe he hasn't actually caught him staring. Maybe he's being ridiculous.

This is stupid. He gladly lets the nervousness take the thoughts away again. This is not the time to be thinking about any of this, and he's definitely been in here a little too long. He doesn't leave the thoughts behind, but for now, he sets them aside.

***

"You can have the bed," Kyoutani says as he digs through his drawer for what he's looking for. Of course the one time he needs it it's nowhere to be found. "I'll take the floor," he continues, finally pulling out the pair of pants he was looking for.

"Are you sure?" Yahaba asks, lingering awkwardly near the doorway. "I can sleep on the floor if you want. I really don't care." 

"No, it's fine," Kyoutani says as he walks over. "Besides you're my guest. It's polite or whatever."

"But--"

"Yahaba, shut up and let me be nice," Kyoutani cuts him off. "Anyways," he begins, holding out the clothes for Yahaba to take, "These sweat pants are long on me, so they should fit you. And the T-shirt might be a little big, but it should be fine to sleep in."

Yahaba takes the clothes with a small thank you and goes to the bathroom to change. Kyoutani turns to the closet and searches for the spare blankets. He finds himself hoping Yahaba actually wants to stay and isn't just being polite and accepting the offer. But Yahaba likes spending times with Kyoutani just as much as Kyoutani likes spending time with him. He knows that much, so maybe this is okay. 

Yahaba changes quick, showing up back in the doorway. When Kyoutani turns, he notices that the pants fit fine, but the shirt is just a little big, like he thought it would be. The way the shirt hangs just a little farther off one of his shoulders is actually kind of attractive. The thought takes Kyoutani a bit off guard, but it's not like he wasn't the one who thought it. Either way it doesn't really matter. He brushes it off and begins to set up blankets on the floor.

***

Kyoutani is on the floor, wrapped up in a blanket with a book in his hand, headphones on, and his phone on his chest, just like at the training camp. Maybe he actually can't fall asleep without reading first. Either way, Yahaba finds himself staring at the way the soft light illuminates his face.

He seems so far away, on the floor, especially compared to the training camp when he was right by Yahaba's side. It was nice being close enough to hear his soft breathing, to feel him there by his side. Yahaba can't help but feel alone up here, with Kyoutani so close but at the same time way too far. He just wants to be next to him, not even in a weird way, or at least he hopes it isn't weird. Is that weird?

Before he can doubt himself further, he get's Kyoutani's attention.

"What?" Kyoutani grunts, softly, as if anyone is actually sleeping.

"You shouldn't sleep on the floor," Yahaba starts, "I feel bad."

"It's fine," Kyoutani says dismissively.

"No, it's not."

"Well where do you suggest I go?" Kyoutani hisses, looking up.

"Just come up here," Yahaba suggests, trying to sound casual but knowing he's a little too hopeful.

"Yahaba, it's fine," Kyoutani persists.

"But I don't want to be up here by myself," Yahaba says, knowing but not really caring that it must sound stupid, or desperate, or maybe both.

"What, are you afraid of the dark?" Kyoutani teases.

"Terrified," Yahaba says sarcastically, rolling his eyes, though Kyoutani probably can't see it. 

He rolls over, accepting his defeat, when he hears the rustling of blankets. Behind him, there's a weight on the bed as Kyoutani wordlessly lays down next to Yahaba. Yahaba smiles so wide, and thank god he's facing the wall because it's the stupidest grin.

***

Kyoutani finally closes his book and puts both it and his phone on the nightstand beside him. Yahaba is already asleep. It didn't take long once Kyoutani moved onto the bed. He looks over to see him sprawled, face down. He snores, just barely, but it's there.

Kyoutani almost has a heart attack when Yahaba suddenly rolls over in his sleep. He throws an arm across Kyoutani's chest before settling back down into snoring again.

Kyoutani isn't really sure what to do about it. He could move his arm, though with this positioning, there isn't really anywhere for it to go. But, Kyoutani doesn't really think he _wants_ to move it, which is weird. It's almost comforting to have Yahaba there, so close. Kyoutani still doesn't particularly like touching, but at the same time he can't help but feel like maybe something in him does like this.

***

Yahaba wakes up and is equally as surprised to find his own arm draped over Kyoutani as he is to see Kyoutani curled up against him. He lays across from him, in that weird little brick formation he manages to sleep in, with his head tucked right against Yahaba's chest and his knees just barely pressing against one of Yahaba's thighs.

It's weird, and it's surprising, but it's far from a bad thing.

 

"I still think you should actually tell him," Watari says a week later as he spins around in Yahaba's desk chair. 

"That's so hard," Yahaba sighs while the tan cat in his lap begins to kneed his legs happily. "Ow, ow, Newt, stop," he says pulling the confused feline off his lap and onto the bed next to him. "Anyways, I'm pretty sure he knows by now anyways."

"Maybe he doesn't," Watari says, slowing to a stop, "You never know, that boy is about as observant as a brick when it comes to this kind of thing. You're better off just telling him and getting it out of the way instead of thinking about it constantly like this."

"I don't know, Watari. I mean he seems to like me back, at least a little, but I can't really tell all the time. Sometimes I don't think he thinks of me like that, but other times it seems like he really might, ya know? Like when he made me dinner, that felt a lot like a date," Yahaba reasons. He wants it to have been a date. But maybe this is a little too optimistic. "He's hard to read sometimes, I can't be sure."

"So then ask him."

"No," Yahaba protests, "What if he says no or something?" 

"If he likes you back like you're saying he does--"

"Might."

"Like you're saying he _might_ , then he won't," Watari points out. It's a good point, but that's assuming Yahaba's feeling _is_ right. He doesn't want to deal with the aftermath if he's wrong, he'd rather keep suffering like this. And even if he is right about Kyoutani having a thing for him, that still doesn't mean he wants to ask him about it.

"Yeah, but maybe I'm wrong, and either way I kind of like the way things are progressing right now," Yahaba says, laying down all the way, "I don't want to mess it up."

"You can't put it off forever."

"Of course I can," Yahaba says, "Besides, maybe he'll ask _me_."

Watari only laughs, and Yahaba does too, but he still finds part of himself hoping.

***

Kyoutani walks quickly into the cold air and the rain. He doesn't have a coat on, not even a sweatshirt. He's realizing now that he doesn't even have fucking shoes on, but he sure as hell isn't going back for any of that now. He can still hear yelling from behind him but he doesn't even pay attention as he breaks into a jog. He just needs to get away.

This was fucking stupid but he has no other options now besides following through with his stupidity. He pulls out his phone and dials Yahaba's number with fingers that are already going a little bit numb. He pulls his wet sleeves over his hands and crosses his free arm tight around his chest while it rings.

 _"Kyoutani?"_ Yahaba begins in a sleep filled voice. _"Why are you even awake right now? Are you okay?"_

"Yeah I'm fine," he says automatically, slowing back to a walk when he hears his voice.

_"You don't sound fine. Where are you?"_

"Um, well," Fuck, what is he even doing? Then again, what other options does he have? "Is it okay if I come over?" 

_"Right now?"_ Yahaba asks,

"Um, yeah, kind of," Kyoutani says quietly. This was a terrible idea, what if he says no? "It's fine if I can't or if you wanna go back to sleep. I'm sorry I even bothered you this late."

***

"No, no! It's fine," Yahaba says quickly, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. If something is wrong, he can't say no, but this may be difficult. "I just don't know how you're gonna get in. My parents are asleep and if you come through the front door, they'll definitely hear it and they'll probably get mad or interrogate you or something."

Yahaba's parents would understand if it was an emergency, but Yahaba still isn't really sure if it is or not. It sounds like it, and he's worried, but he has no idea what's happening. Mostly he doesn't want to make Kyoutani explain anything he doesn't want to in the middle of the night to Yahaba's parents, and he especially doesn't want his parents trying to get involved in Kyoutani's personal business. 

_"Don't worry about it, I'll take care of it,"_ Kyoutani says, and with that he hangs up.

Yahaba has no idea what that means or what Kyoutani is planning to do. He doesn't even know when he's going to show up. For some reason that makes Yahaba even more worried. He almost feels sick. Why would Kyoutani even be awake this late? And why would he need to call Yahaba, need to come over right away? It sounded like he had been running. Had he been? 

All these thoughts run through his head as he paces the room. He feels like he should be preparing for Kyoutani to get here, but he doesn't know what to expect and how to prepare for that.

Eventually he vaguely registers a tap at the window over his bed, barely louder than the rain. Shit, it's raining, Kyoutani is walking here in the fucking rain. He should get a towel or something, he's probably soaked. His thoughts are interrupted by another, louder knock on the window. He looks over and his heart almost stops when he sees Kyoutani's face behind the rain streaking down the window. Yahaba runs over, opening the window for him to crawl through. When he does, he closes it behind him and sits on the bed for a second with his eyes closed, just breathing.

"Oh my god you're soaked. How did you even get _up_ here?" Yahaba asks in a hasty whisper.

"Your neighbors had a ladder in their yard."

Taking a long look at him, Kyoutani's clothes are soaked all the way through, he's shivering, and now that the rain isn't washing it away, there's definitely blood coming from a small cut on his eyebrow.

"Shit, what happened?" Yahaba says in a very loud whisper, "You know what? Don't even tell me yet. We need to get you out of those wet clothes before you die in my house and I'm held responsible." He rushes away to grab dry clothes for Kyoutani. This is definitely worse than he thought.

"I've only been outside for a few minutes, I'm not going to die," Kyoutani whispers back, getting off of Yahaba's bed.

"What the hell is wrong with you? You don't even have shoes on! And you're in just a shirt when it's freezing outside. Do you even know how cold it is? Jesus, your literally shaking, for fucks sake," Yahaba rants as he frantically digs through his drawer, pulling out some sweat pants and shirt and practically shoving them into Kyoutani's hands. "Put these on, I won't look," he says as turns around to search for more socks. 

"I didn't really have time to grab anything," Kyoutani says, accompanied by the sounds of wet clothes hitting the floor. "Or, you know, time to think. I know, I'm fucking stupid."

"I never said that," Yahaba says quietly as his earlier panic fades to a softer concern, wondering why the hell he would be in a big enough rush to leave without as much as his shoes, but deciding it's best to leave it alone for now. "Are you done?"

Kyoutani grunts in reply and Yahaba turns around to see him pulling the shirt over his torso. It's a little big on him, and it's even bigger on Yahaba. He only ever uses it as pajamas and it's the warmest thing he has to offer right now. The sweatpants pool a little around his feet, but they aren't falling off so they'll be fine.

Kyoutani is still shivering and Yahaba rips the blanket off his bed to give to him. Kyoutani protests a little, but eventually takes it along with the socks.

"Come here," Yahaba says, taking Kyoutani's wet clothes before creeping out into the silence of the hallway an then to the bathroom. Kyoutani follows wordlessly. 

Yahaba gestures for him to stand by the sink while he hangs up the soaked clothing, and he does so without a sound. It's silent for a while, with Yahaba beginning to clean the cut on Kyoutani's eyebrow with whatever he can find in the cabinet. He can't help that his mind wanders what caused the small gash, but he's not going to press the issue, not after what happened last time and especially not at a time like this. Who knows how he'll react. It makes him sad all the same, but he focuses on what he's doing and stays quiet.

He looks down at Kyoutani. The expression on his face isn't necessarily sad or distraught, just really tired and maybe a hint of something else he can't quite identify. There's no furrow in his brow, no frown. He just stares at the floor with the blanket still wrapped around him from the elbows down and at some point he ended up sitting on the counter instead of standing. He looks so small, like a little kid in a way. Kyoutani doesn't flinch once, keeping that same solemn expression. Not when Yahaba moves to gently clean the wound, not when he's wiping the blood from his cheek, not when he puts his hand right above Kyoutani's eye to protect it from the hydrogen peroxide. He just sits quietly and it's almost worse than if he were freaking out. It's kind of scary to see him so blank.

"It's still bleeding a little," Yahaba says finally, voice straining a slightly for some reason as he talks just to fill the silence. "Here, hold this on it for a few minutes until it stops," he continues, and hands Kyoutani a cloth. He nods and does as he's told without a word and Yahaba really wishes he would just say something to end this awful silence. 

Yahaba is turned around getting a small towel out of the cabinet when Kyoutani speaks.

"It's my dad," he says quietly, "As if you don't already know."

Yahaba doesn't really know what to say. He did assume that much by this point, but he isn't sure if that's his cue to finally talk about it or if this is it. 

"I'm sorry," he says for lack of anything better as he walks back with the towel. He begins to dry Kyoutani's still dripping hair and Kyoutani doesn't protest. He just closes his eyes, tilting his head down for Yahaba before he keeps talking.

"Don't be. I don't want you to be, it's not like it's your fault," Kyoutani continues, "He only ever does shit like this when he's drunk. If you happen to say or do the wrong thing. Talk back, fucking look at him the wrong way." He stops himself with a sigh before continuing. "It's fine though. One more year, then I'm never going back." He's silent for a while before adding, "I don't want you to be sorry for me or worry or anything. I just figured I should tell you. You asked a while ago and I never did answer you. So there you go I guess." 

Yahaba has a lot of questions, but he doesn't think he'll get more than what Kyoutani has already shared right now, nor does he really want to press the issue right this second. This isn't about Yahaba or what he wants to know, that can wait. He just wants to comfort Kyoutani, to be there and clean his wounds, not pour salt in them.

"Thank you," Yahaba says, looking back at Kyoutani, "For trusting me."

"Of course I trust you," Kyoutani says like that's a given.

Yahaba just smiles a little, taking Kyoutani's cold hand and the cloth away from the cut, which has finally stopped bleeding. He puts the antibiotic on it then carefully closes it with a butterfly bandage. The whole time Kyoutani keeps looking at him with an expression that Yahaba can't really read, almost like he's analyzing him. It makes him a little uneasy.

"Yahaba?" he says finally as Yahaba smooths down the bandage.

"Hm?" Yahaba hums, turning to put away all of the first aid supplies scattered across the counter. 

"Do you like me?" Yahaba freezes. "An I mean not as a friend. Because, I think," he pauses like he's really thinking about something, and Yahaba can practically hear his own heart beat. "I think I like you. And I'm pretty sure you like me too. But I'm not very good at reading people, and I barely know what qualifies someone as a friend, so maybe I'm wrong and this just sounds really fucking stupid."

Yahaba turns to look at him. Kyoutani is serious, looking down with his ears bright red. Before Yahaba can think twice or Kyoutani can start talking, he leans forward, tilting Kyoutani's chin up to look at him before meeting Kyoutani's lips with his own.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so, the 'travel' was really just Kyoutani sneaking to Yahaba's house. It was the best I could do because the plot must continue and all that good stuff. As always, thank you for reading and leaving me comments and kudos! I super appreciate them all! I will be back tomorrow for the last day of Kyouhaba week!


	7. Endings and Beginnings

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, here it is, the last chapter. Again, it's 2:30am, and again, I'm sorry this is so late. I'm also sorry it turned out a bit shorter than normal, but I hope you like it anyways. Today's prompt was free day so I just kind of threw in an idea I had. Anyways, I really enjoyed writing this story and I hope you all enjoyed reading it!
> 
> (This just in, I _finally_ fixed the spacing issue in this chapter.)

It takes Kyoutani a bit by surprise, when Yahaba kisses him. For a second there, Kyoutani was sure that Yahaba didn't actually like him at all, with how long he was silent, the look on his face. He was expecting a quick rejection, but before he could even dwell on this idea, he was met with the gentle movement of Yahaba's hand to his chin and the soft kiss that followed. It was timid and short, but it felt like what he must have been waiting for. 

Kyoutani has never kissed anyone before, actually. Being honest, he can't remember ever having liked someone. It's a weird feeling, one he isn't all that used to. For some reason, he actually _wants_ to be near Yahaba, he actually _wants_ to touch him and be touched in the soft way Yahaba does. Kyoutani had found himself flinching away less and less without even realizing that he was becoming okay with the contact. It feels good, to have Yahaba near him like this. 

He never pictured his first kiss being like this. He never would have guessed that it would take place a little after two in the morning, after walking through the rain without shoes or a jacket and crawling in through a window. He never assumed that he would be wearing someone else's clothes, wrapped half way in a blanket sitting on the bathroom sink with a few brand new bruises. 

He never could have known it would be Yahaba, in a big t-shirt and pajama pants. Yahaba, with his tired, worried eyes and bed head, as he gives all his attention to Kyoutani. Yahaba, with his gentle hand against Kyoutani's face and his lips against his own. Yet, somehow, it seems like it couldn't have happened any other way.

***

Yahaba pulls away with his hand still on his face and looks at Kyoutani. He looks surprised, maybe even confused, but not unhappy, and Yahaba can't help but feel relieved at finally knowing Kyoutani likes Yahaba the way he likes him.

He just _kissed_ Kyoutani.

"That should've happened a long time ago," Kyoutani says finally.

"Probably," Yahaba admits, guiding Kyoutani's face back up to his own.

 

"I have a few books," Yahaba says back in his room, "If you want to read one. I know you always do before you sleep." He's not really sure what Kyoutani likes to read. Probably not anything Yahaba has, but he'd feel bad if Kyoutani couldn't sleep.

"Um, sure, thanks," Kyoutani says quietly, wandering over to the book shelf. "I can't really fall asleep unless I do," he confirms, as he quickly scans the shelf and picks up a collection of poetry Yahaba has. 

"You like poetry?" Yahaba asks as he gets a spare blanket from the closet, since the one from his bed is currently still around Kyoutani's shoulders. Thankfully, Kyoutani isn't shivering anymore. 

"Yeah, why is that so damn surprising? I can't like poetry?" Kyoutani fires back, maybe sounding a little embarrassed.

"No, you just don't seem like someone who likes poetry," Yahaba says coming back to the bed, where Kyoutani is already sitting. "Then again, a lot of things about you are surprising. In a good way." 

"Shit, I don't have my headphones," Kyoutani says as Yahaba finally sits down.

"I would honestly be more mad if you _did_ have you're headphones, yet don't have any shoes," Yahaba says dryly and Kyoutani makes a face. "Anyways, I don't really mind. You read to classical music right?" Kyoutani nods a little. "Yeah, I can fall asleep to that, it's fine." 

With that, they settle down to sleep. 

"You're a really cuddly sleeper, you know," Kyoutani says a he puts on a playlist of soft, classical music. 

"Yeah, sorry," Yahaba says, feeling a little embarrassed for some reason. 

"It's fine," Kyoutani says, resting his phone on his chest. "I just think it's funny how you can fall asleep on your face, and somehow wake up wrapped around me." It's silent for a while, and Yahaba thinks Kyoutani is reading when he speaks again. 

"It's kind of nice, though." 

Yahaba laughs a little, but he turns over wordlessly to put his head on Kyoutani's shoulder. Kyoutani leans his head onto Yahaba's before it's clear he's actually reading this time. Yahaba reads over his shoulder for a little while, but it isn't long before he gives in to how tired he is at this hour.

***

Kyoutani closes the book as the playlist comes to an end and the music fades away to a heavy silence. He puts the book on the floor as quietly as he can without having to move and disturb Yahaba, who now has his entire upper body across Kyoutani's chest as he snores lightly into Kyoutani's neck. One of his legs is pulled up over Kyoutani's, where there's another warm presence, now that Yahaba's cat, Newt, has wandered in.

Kyoutani doesn't want to move, he wants to lay like this forever, with Yahaba next to him just like this. But he knows he'll never be able to fall asleep on his back. As carefully as he can, he rolls onto his side, with his back pressed right against Yahaba's chest. Yahaba's head slides into a spot right behind Kyoutani's neck and his arm stays wrapped around Kyoutani's chest. The movement disturbs Newt, who Kyoutani can feel walk closer to sleep against Kyoutani's feet and Yahaba's legs.

It feels so good, letting himself be close to someone like this, to feel Yahaba against him as he breaths deep and even. It's something that Kyoutani never expected himself to enjoy as much as he does. It's comforting. He feels safe in a way. 

He pulls Yahaba's arm under his own and laces his fingers through Yahaba's and he can feel Yahaba squeeze back, just a little bit, even in his sleep.

***

Oikawa requested all the regular players to stay late, which is honestly pretty scary, because knowing Oikawa, this could be about literally anything. Oikawa's face is unreadable, but Yahaba can see that Iwaizumi looks pretty happy, meaning this is probably a good announcement and not them all about to be scolded for one thing or another.

"Ah, good, everyone is here," Oikawa chirps happily as the last few people wander up to huddle loosely in a group. Kyoutani walks up beside Yahaba, and he actually smiles the tiniest bit in a silent greeting when Yahaba glances over at him.

"Sadly," Matsukawa chimes in. 

"Hey!" Oikawa squawks, "This is a good announcement!" Well, that settles that. 

"You know what they say," Hanamaki begins, "All announcements are bad until proven good."

"Makki, no one has ever said that," Iwaizumi replies.

"Well, I just said it." 

"Anyways," Oikawa says, cutting off the conversation before this can go any farther down hill than it already has. "We have a tournament coming up, so, this Saturday is going to be our movie night, and I expect all of you to be there," he finishes, glancing at Kyoutani, who seems startled by it.

"Why are we having a movie night?" Kindaichi asks. 

"It's team bonding!" Oikawa replies proudly.

"It's your excuse to get everyone to watch movies with you," Iwaizumi cuts in. 

"Iwa-chan! You're so mean!" 

"What do we do, exactly?" Kunimi asks with no real interest.

"We all just go to Oikawa's house and watch movies, pretty much," Watari explains, "We do it before every big tournament."

"But it's always just the regulars," Oikawa adds, "Because I can't fit the entire volleyball club in my house at once," he continues. Oikawa pauses, grimacing at a point in the distance.

"Sure you can," Matsukawa chimes in with a smirk.

"Never again," Iwaizumi says with a shiver.

"Again?" Yahaba questions. He doesn't remember a time when they tried to do the movie night with the entire club.

"Oh yeah, you guys were still in middle school," Matsukawa says. "Wow, we were first years. Shit, we're old now."

"What are you two talking about?" Hanamaki asks Oikawa and Iwaizumi with his hands on his hips, "That was great!" he continues with an evil grin.

"What happened?" Kindaichi asks innocently. Everyone looks curiously at the third years. Even Yahaba can admit that he's curious now. Matsukawa is holding back a laugh, and even Iwaizumi seems a little bit amused. Hanamaki is ready to give an answer when Oikawa cuts him off.

"We agreed never to speak of that night!" he yells, looking awfully flustered.

"Why? Because--"

"Stop!"

 

In the locker room Yahaba turns around to see Oikawa and Iwaizumi leaving together, like they always do. He usually doesn't see them leave, but as they do, Yahaba doesn't miss the way their hands lace easily together. He can't help but smile to himself.

***

Kyoutani sets down the bowl of food outside the back door for Lena. It's not like anyone will let her in if Kyoutani isn't home. He turns, looking at the time. He's going to be a little late, but that's fine. He's not really looking forward to spending an extended period of time in close quarters with the team, and no volleyball to distract him from it. He might have some friends now, maybe, but that doesn't mean he's become a huge fan of social interaction, and it certainly doesn't mean he's gotten any better at it.

He turns to run up the stairs and grab his bag before he leaves. He's halfway up when he hears the high pitched whine from the bottom of the stairs. He turns to see Shiba standing restlessly there, and it breaks his heart.

Lately, she's been slow going up and down the stairs, but this is the first time she's ever stayed at the bottom. She's getting older, a lot older actually, and Kyoutani knows her joints aren't doing as well anymore.

He walks to the bottom of the stairs and scratches her neck.

"What?" Kyoutani begins, "You're old bones won't carry you up the stairs anymore?" He says it lightly, but it doesn't defeat the ache in his chest. "You're getting old, huh?" he continues quietly. "Don't worry, you're still my baby. Stay. Right. Here. I'm coming right back down," he says as he stands up, turning to walk up the stairs.

Shiba whines again. "Don't you dare follow me," Kyoutani warns, turning slightly and pointing at the dog before continuing up the stairs.

He grabs his bag, and leaves for 'team bonding'. Oh boy.

***

Oikawa's house is nice, not huge, but big enough for all of them. Yahaba walks in and he's greeted with a few hellos and a handful of popcorn that Hanamaki throws at him.

"Hey! Makki, pick that up!" Oikawa orders from across the kitchen where he opens another package of popcorn.

Yahaba isn't the first one here, but he isn't the last either. Watari, Kindaichi, Kunimi and Kyoutani all yet to have arrive.

"Yes, your highness," Hanamaki coos as he hops off the counter and moves towards where popcorn now scatters the floor.

"Leave it to all the second years to show up last," Iwaizumi says, glancing back with a smirk as he opens the microwave to take out another bag of popcorn.

"What do you mean?" Yahaba asks, putting his stuff down on a chair next to some other bags, "I don't see any of the first years."

"Kindaichi is in the bathroom," Kunimi's voice says from behind the counter somewhere. Upon further inspection, the first year is laying on the floor just out of sight from the doorway.

"Yeah, we made him change into his pajamas," Oikawa chimes in as he fills a large bowl with popcorn. "Speaking of which, when he comes out, you have to too. When I said to wear comfy cloths, I _actually_ meant it. You people should listen to your Captain." Matsukawa snorts a laugh from the counter he's laying across where Hanamaki has returned to sit again. "I'm serious!"

Before the conversation can go any further, Kindaichi emerges from the hallway wearing plaid pajama pants and an old t-shirt. It's always weird the few times Yahaba sees the team in pajamas as opposed to a school uniform or their volleyball gear.

Kunimi, unsurprisingly, is wearing the same bland white shirt and grey sweats he's always seen in during training camps. Oikawa, however, is in a pair of ridiculously patterned alien pants that Yahaba has yet to see, with a t-shirt for some sci fi movie on top. Iwaizumi is next to him, yelling at Oikawa for something Yahaba missed. He's in sweats and a shirt for a band that Yahaba has never heard of, and odds are, no one else in the room has either. Matsukawa, who's now laying across the counter on his stomach instead of his back, has on sweatpants and a sweatshirt for a college that Yahaba is pretty sure Matsukawa's older sister goes to. Poking at him, is Hanamaki, who's in a onesie that Yahaba can only guess is supposed to be some kind of sheep. He had said he was going to wear it, but Yahaba though he was joking. Apparently not.

Yahaba changes quickly in the bathroom and when he goes back to the kitchen, Watari has arrived. Yahaba notices that the shirt Watari is wearing is one that Yahaba left over his house by accident once. It's okay, Yahaba is pretty sure he's wearing one of Watari's shirts too.

 

They all sit in the kitchen an talk for a while as they wait for Kyoutani to show up. He had texted Yahaba a little while ago that he was still coming, but left his house a little late. They end up eating a lot of the popcorn by accident, and eventually, they have to make another bag to save for the movie.

"Yahaba, I thought you said Kyouken-chan was coming!" Oikawa whines.

"Yeah, we've been waiting a long time," Iwaizumi agrees.

"Maybe he got hit by a car."

"Makki!" Oikawa squawks.

"Or he's hiding a dead body," Matsukawa offers with a smirk.

"Matsun, come on," Oikawa interjects with his hands on his hips. "He seems more like an arsonist than a murderer, don't you think?" 

"People can die in fires," Kunimi points out casually. 

"But is there a body left to hide?" Oikawa asks skeptically. 

"Some of it," Hanamaki answers and Matsukawa nods. 

"You're all terrible," Iwaizumi concludes.

It's then that Kyoutani finally arrives, not underneath a car somewhere, and hopefully not coming back from hiding a body, committing arson, or any combination of the two. Yahaba smiles as Kyoutani walks in awkwardly. He actually came in pajamas like he was told, which Yahaba wasn't expecting. He has an very worn out shirt on top and he's in the sweatpants that he let Yahaba use. As he said, they're just a little long on him. It's cute. 

"Finally!"

"So, where did you hide the body?" Hanamaki asks with a grin.

"What the fuck?" Kyoutani looks so confused and Yahaba can't help but laugh a little. Even Kunimi looks amused. Meanwhile, Matsukawa and Hanamakki are dying with laughter in a little heap on the counter as Oikawa giggles and Iwaizumi tries, and fails, at sounding mad through his laughter. 

"I'm so lost, right now."

***

They argue over what movie to watch for a while. It's annoying. Kyoutani states immediately that he doesn't have a preference. He doesn't really care and honestly, and he definitely doesn't want to be part of the ongoing battle for the movie. He's content just watching everyone else argue about it.

Everyone immediately vetoes all of Oikawa's alien movies. He's highly offended and takes it out on Iwaizumi. After Oikawa declares that Godzilla and a few early 2000's action movies are out, Hanamaki suggests a romantic comedy, which is quickly shot down by Iwaizumi and Watari. Watari wants a comedy, which Kunimi immediately refuses. Matsukawa suggests a few weird indie films that no one is in the mood to try, and Yahaba throws out a few titles he claims are classics, but they're quickly shot down. Oikawa asks Kunimi what he wants to watch, and he says documentary, but he's clearly aware he's the only one who want's that. 

It's Kindaichi who suggests a horror movie, and surprisingly, no one protests.

" _You_ like scary movies?" Hanamaki asks skeptically. 

"Yeah," Kindaichi answers, "I'm not saying I don't get scared, but just because I think they're scary doesn't mean I won't watch one."

Kyoutani, however, does not like scary movies. Not at all. Not even a little. He's seriously regretting giving up his vote.

***

They all file into the living room. Hanamaki quickly claims an arm chair while Oikawa and Iwaizumi sit on the far half of the couch. The two first years end up on the other half, and Watari curls up on the ottoman. By the time the last three get there, there's only the floor left.

"Hey, that's where I usually sit," Matsukawa protests to Hanamaki, who only grins cruelly in response. "Fine," Matsukawa says with a shrug, sitting directly on top of Hanamaki. He squawks in protests and tries to shove him off but the effort is futile. Matsukawa only grins.

Yahaba and Kyoutani settle on the floor off to the side with a few pillows, and eventually, Matsukawa and Hanamaki squeeze onto the chair next to each other instead of Hanamaki hogging the seat or just being crushed.

The movie they eventually pick isn't the slasher kind of scary, but the slow, creepy, suspenseful kind. Yahaba is never really scared of this kind of movie, but the jump scares always get him.

At one point, he takes a look around the room. Iwaizumi is unphased as Oikawa clings desperately to his side, hiding his face in the other boy's shoulder when he doesn't want to look. Next to them, Kindaichi has his knees pulled tight to his chest with only his eyes peeking over the top, while next to him, Kunimi is slumped on his shoulder asleep. Matsukawa hides his face behind his hand, but is clearly still watching between his fingers, and at his side, Hanamaki is enjoying making fun of all the stupid decisions the characters make. Watari loves horror movies, Yahaba knows this, but whenever he watches them, he always just looks so focused rather than scared.

Yahaba is surprised when next to him, Kyoutani actually looks terrified. He's never seen him scared before, but Kyoutani is practically shaking. Yahaba never expected Kyoutani to be the kind of person to be scared of horror movies, but then again, Kyoutani never really was how Yahaba expected.

It is cute though, the way Kyoutani looks as he peeks over the pillow he's been squeezing with all of his limbs. Despite how scared he must be, Kyoutani refuses to look away from the screen. Yahaba's even more surprised by Kyoutani when the next scary part comes and Kyoutani's hand shoots out to grab Yahaba's, startling him more than the actual scare. He holds on to him tight, and Yahaba wonders if Kyoutani has forgotten that they're in a room full of people.

Yahaba looks around nervously, a few of the third years seemed to have noticed, and Yahaba wonders what the hell they're thinking. At first he's worried, even considers pulling away, but, none of them seem to care. They just look back to the movie like Yahaba and Kyoutani are old news.

Any self consciousness that was there fades, and Yahaba smiles a little to himself before lacing his fingers properly through Kyoutani's. He holds on tight. It feels good.

He could stay like this forever.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's not exactly how I planned to end it, but it still came out okay. I'm so happy to finally be able to call it done! Thank you so much for reading this and I really appreciate all the comments and kudos you leave me! I did have an idea for something sad that I didn't end up fitting into this but I'll definitely write that and post it sometime in the next week, so keep an eye out for that! I hope you enjoyed this little story, I'm glad people seem to have liked it!


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